


Rise of Wizardry

by OwlsWingFlying



Series: Rise of Wizardry: The Series [1]
Category: Brave (2012), How to Train Your Dragon (Movies), Rise of the Guardians (2012), Tangled (2010)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-15
Updated: 2020-09-15
Packaged: 2021-03-06 15:33:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 19
Words: 45,739
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26471176
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OwlsWingFlying/pseuds/OwlsWingFlying
Summary: "We'll always be friends forever, won't we?" Jack grinned, standing on his knees in his chair so he could ruffle Hiccup's hair with both his hands. Hiccup laughed and started wrestling back. "Yeah, forever." Hiccup promised. (The big four, Hogwarts AU, no pairings.)
Series: Rise of Wizardry: The Series [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1924375
Comments: 1
Kudos: 33





	1. Beginnings

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everybody! So this series started on Fanfiction.net, and after a very long time I've decided to also post it here. Everything's already written, so I imagine I'll probably be posting everything pretty fast. Because of this I won't be as attentive to responding to reviews as I have been in the past, but I love you all and appreciate every word! Hope you enjoy!

**Chapter 1: Beginnings**

_Dear Mr. Overland-Frost,_

_We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed list of all the necessary books and equipment. Term begins on September 1. We await your owl no later than July 31._

_Yours Sincerely,_

_Nicholas St. North, Deputy Headmaster._

Jackson Overland-Frost was beside himself with excitement as he re-read the letter that had come nearly a month ago. His mother had cried, she was so proud, and his sister had already shown signs of having magic, so Jack was sure she would be going to school with him in a few years.

 _"Today's the day, dad!"_ Jack thought. _"I'm finally going to Hogwarts."_

The eleven-year-old boy looked to the side as he sat on his bed with only a few of his things left strewn across the floor, and his trunk left open nearly full. There, on his nightstand, was a picture of him and his father when he was only four years old. His father was carrying him on his shoulders and they were both grinning madly.

"Jack!" The boy heard his mother calling. "Jack, are you ready?" Jack jumped up and grabbed the picture, quickly packing it away with the rest of his things.

"Almost!" He shouted back in a hurry.

Jack lived in a small building located just behind Gringotts Wizarding Bank in Diagon Alley. Upstairs was a small apartment of sorts with two bedrooms; one for his mother and one for Jack and his sister, Emma.

Downstairs, however, was his mother's shop and business. She was a seamstress who handled everything from capes, to school robes, to suits. She was kind and caring and even though their shop was painfully small, many witches and wizards knew her as one of the best seamstresses in the wizarding world. It helped to keep the business running, especially when your mother's shop is hidden behind a massive bank and three other shops in Diagon Alley sold mass-production robes.

Finally catching the latch on his trunk so it was shut tight Jack ran downstairs where his mother's shop was and found his mother tying Emma's cloak around her neck. They wore every day robes, but the fact that the three of them were ready to go made Jack's stomach flip in excitement. His mother was taking him to King's Cross Station, platform nine and three-quarters where the Hogwarts Express would be departing from at eleven o'clock on the dot.

"There you are!" His mother smiled when she saw him. "Have you packed everything you need? What about your owl? Is she comfortable?"

"Yes, mom." Jack smiled as she tried to pet down his messy brown hair. "Nix is asleep in her cage."

"Oh, I just can't believe my little boy is all ready to go to Hogwarts! It feels like just yesterday that your father and I were finding frost on the window above your crib in the middle of July." Jack's mother said, her cheeks turning pink from her eyes welling up. She hugged Jack good and tight before excusing herself to go upstairs and levitate Jack's trunk down the stairs.

"Promise you'll send letters?" Jack's little sister, Emma, asked pulling on the sleeve of his robe. Jack smiled and knelt down to give her a hug too.

"Of course I will. You take care of mom while I'm gone, okay? Help with the chores and the shop." Jack told her as Emma nodded determinedly at his words.

After that his mother came back levitating Jack's trunk with her own wand and Jack slipped up the stairs to collect his staff and Nix, who was now wide awake because of all the excitement. Once they had everything ready to go, the family of three locked up the shop and made their way to the train station.

"Come on, you two!" Jack's mother ushered him and his sister through the crowds of muggles in the train station, looking for platform nine and three-quarters. "Hurry now, it's just a little ways ahead!"

Jack smiled, watching his little sister ride on the trolley as he pushed it and giggling excitedly when he sped up to keep up with their mother. As they reached the area between platforms nine and ten, Jack couldn't help but notice the group of six already standing there. One of them was a girl about his age. She had the wildest, reddest curly hair Jack had ever seen and she stood beside a trolley much like his.

"Mum, I'll be fine!" She groaned as a woman with long dark hair fussed about her.

"Eleanor, Let the lass be." A large man came and placed his hands on the woman's shoulders as three little boys ran about their feet. The girl smiled and waved goodbye as her family stepped aside.

Jack looked on from just a few feet away along with his mother and sister. The girl noticed him and blinked, then realization came to her expression as she took in his trunk and owl, and she waved to Jack with a smile. Jack waved back and then watched as the girl ran straight at the wall between platforms nine and ten, disappearing into the wall.

"Alright, well, I guess it's your turn now." Jack's mother said after the girl's family had followed her through, her eyes looking a little glassy. "Just run straight at it and you'll go straight through to platform nine and three-quarters. We'll be right behind you." His mother promised. Jack nodded and licked his lips nervously, eyeing the solid wall before him, and then started running at the wall as fast as he could.

He closed his eyes just before he hit the wall and when he opened them again he found himself slowing to a stop on a very busy platform, a sign labeled nine and three-quarters hung on the wall nearby. Jack looked behind him to see his mother and sister appear from the wall and Emma gasped at the sight before them.

A bright red train whistled proudly as people were boarding the train and saying goodbye to their loved ones and trying to put their things in the storage compartments: The Hogwarts Express!

Jack and his mother worked together to get his trunk into the storage car of the train and then Jack gave her and Emma one last big hug before getting on the train and finding an empty compartment so he could wave goodbye to his mother and sister as the train started to pull away from the station.

"Bye, Jack! Good luck!" Emma called as she waved, holding tight to their mother's hand. Jack smiled and waved until he couldn't see any trace of them in the distance.

Jack settled back into his seat and sighed, watching the scenery pass by outside the train. At this rate it was going to be a very boring train ride. Maybe he should have found a compartment with some of the other first years, but most of the compartments had already been filled and it seemed like a lot of the kids on the train already knew at least one other person.

A quiet knock on the compartment door brought Jack out of his thoughts and he found a boy with messy brown hair and green eyes standing in the doorway. The boy was short and scrawny, his robes looked too big for him, and he looked incredibly shy.

"Do you mind? Everywhere else is full..." The boy gestured to the seat across from him and Jack grinned widely.

"Not at all!" Jack told him and the boy sat down in the empty seats. "What's your name?"

"Oh, uh... it's -it's Hiccup." Hiccup offered his hand and Jack shook it. The little fellow seemed nervous to Jack.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Jack." Jack grinned.

"Oh... Okay, nice to meet you, too, Jack." Hiccup blinked in surprise and Jack raised one eyebrow but didn't comment. "Is that yours?" Hiccup asked, pointing to Jack's staff leaning against the seat.

"Yeah." Jack said bashfully, scratching the back of his head. "My dad made it for me before I was born."

"That's really cool! Mind if I..." Hiccup trailed off when he realized what he was asking could potentially be very rude or offensive and blushed slightly.

"Yeah, okay. But only if I get to see your wand." Jack bargained. Hiccup quickly pulled out his wand and they exchanged the precious woods.

Hiccup's wand was quite handsome. At fifteen inches it was all black with a fairly simple grip-design on the handle and a strange stone on the end of the handle that was as black as the night sky with small specks that looked like stars. The handle was only inches six inches, leaving the other nine for added reach of the spiral. Above the handle, where most wands were straight or had a tight twist to resemble unicorn horns, this one had the rare quality of a spiral wand.

"Impressive." Jack muttered. "Dragon scales for the core? That's only been done successfully a handful of times. And vine wood? Very nice." He said, turning the wand and looking at it from different angles. It certainly had much more character than most other wands he had seen. "What's this stone at the end? Black Diopside?"

"Whoa...you know a lot about wands, don't you?" Hiccup snorted, having stopped his inspection of Jack's staff to listen to his ramblings about his wand.

"Me? No, not really. I just learned some stuff from Ollivander because my dad was his apprentice." Jack told him, laughing, and Hiccup chuckled a bit with him.

"So... what House do you want to be in?" Jack wanted to know, handing Hiccup back his wand as the other boy returned his staff.

"...Well, I'd give anything to be a Gryffindor like my dad, but I'm not anything like him. I think I'll probably end up in Hufflepuff, like my mom." Hiccup sighed.

"That's not bad. Hufflepuff is just as good as Gryffindor! And at least you'll be in the same House your mom was in, that must be cool." Jack smiled, but Hiccup only shrugged.

"It would be cooler if I actually knew who my mom was." He murmured quietly and Jack frowned. A moment of silence passed and then Hiccup looked embarrassed, his face turning cherry red. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't be troubling you with my problems! Just forget I said anything, it was stupid and it doesn't actually matter. She died when I was just a baby so I never actually met her. I mean, it's kind of hard to miss someone you never met, right? I -"

"My dad disappeared when I was five years old. My baby sister was barely a year old when it happened." Jack cut off Hiccup's endless rambling and the two boys fell into silence. Jack smiled suddenly, making Hiccup's eyes widen slightly. "Wow, I never really thought I'd meet someone who knows what it feels like."

Hiccup smiled a funny little half-smile and nodded slowly. "Yeah. Me neither."

Just then a rather plump woman appeared at the door of their compartment, pushing a trolley. It was filled with sweets and snacks and both boys felt their mouths watering at the sight of it.

"Anything from the trolley, dears?" The woman asked and Jack shoved his hand into his pocket. He fished out a few coins his mother had given him to use if he wanted anything from the trolley - as a treat for his first time on the Hogwarts Express - and quickly got up to pick something out.

"Yes, please. Thank you!" He said, searching over the cart as Hiccup stood and watched from behind him.

"Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans? Chocolate Frogs? What is all this stuff?" Hiccup asked as he read some of the colorful packaging decorating the trolley.

"You've never had it?" Jack gaped at him and Hiccup shook his head.

"We don't have a lot of sweet things where I'm from. The best dessert I've ever had was a small slice of cake." Hiccup told him and Jack shook his head, disapproving.

"We need to fix that. Now. Can I have a package of Bertie Botts, two Chocolate Frogs, and a Cauldron Cake, please?" Jack asked the lady, who smiled and started gathering everything Jack had asked for.

About an hour later, Jack and Hiccup were laughing and talking like they'd known each other for years. The two boys had finished their treats long ago and now joked with each other about various topics. Jack would share what he knew of Hogwarts with Hiccup and Hiccup would tell Jack everything he had heard about the school, so they could compare rumors and stories.

"Oh, hey, I almost forgot." Hiccup said after they had finished laughing at one particularly funny joke Jack had told. "You never said what House you wanted to be in?" Hiccup said it as more of a question and Jack smiled.

"Well, I'm not very picky, but I'd really like to be in Slytherin. Like my dad was." Jack smiled and Hiccup nodded.

"That's cool. I hear Slytherin's are supposed to be really fast flyers." Hiccup smiled.

"Yeah, my dad was a Seeker for their Quidditch team!... I guess the only down side would be if we ended up in different Houses." Jack admitted.

"Yeah...You're the first person who didn't laugh at me after hearing my name." Hiccup replied, only half joking.

"How about we make a pact right now?" Jack suggested, holding out his hand. "No matter what Houses we get sorted into, we stay friends, deal?"

Hiccup grinned for the first time and nodded. "Deal."

The two boys gripped forearms and shook on it, sealing their promise.

"Excuse me?" A girl appeared in the opening of the compartment after their hands had fallen back to their sides and the boys looked up. The girl had long, long golden hair that was braided into three braids and then braided into one giant braid to keep her hair off the floor - just barely though. She had kind, light-green eyes and a warm smile. "Have either of you seen a chameleon around here? He's my familiar."

"Um, no." Hiccup said slowly and the girl looked a little disappointed.

"Oh, well, thanks anyways." She said, starting to leave, but Jack called her back.

"Hey, wait! Do you need help finding him? We could help." He told her and the girl smiled sweetly.

"Thank you, but we're playing hide and seek. I'd be cheating if I got you two to help me." She giggled and then waved goodbye as she started her search again.

"Well, I hope she finds him soon. We should be arriving any minute now." Jack said as he sat back down and Hiccup nodded in agreement.

About fifteen minutes later the train came screeching to a halt in Hogsmeade Station, jerking to a stop as all of the first years struggled to look out the windows with everyone else. Jack and Hiccup struggled through the crowd, managing to reach the front after a few moments of squeezing between the other first years.

Looking out the window, they couldn't see very much because it was dark and the windows had fogged with the cold, but there were several lights posted along the station and there were plenty of guides offering assistance to the first years and anyone else who needed it.

They were led off of the train and the first years were instructed to stay together as the other students walked away, obviously already knowing where they were going, with the exception of a few second years.

"Right then, first years! First years, this way! Come on, hurry up!" A large man holding a lantern called out, waving so the first years would see him. He had short brown hair, a thin beard, and he wore brown furs from head to foot. His brown eyes were kind, but stern and his teeth were slightly crooked.

When all of the first years had found their way to the huge man and had grouped together in front of him, he smiled and nodded. "Well, that looks like everyone. This way to the boats! Come on, keep up!"

The man turned and led the way with his big, bright lantern as they walked down a well-used path through the woods. Hiccup looked around curiously at the dark woods and Jack grinned, excited for whatever was waiting for them.

They came to a wide, open lake that reflected the stars and the moon beautifully, making several of the first years gasp while everyone else just gaped in open amazement.

"Four to a boat! No more, no less! Come on, hurry up now! They'll be waiting for us!" The man with the lantern exclaimed, helping some of the more squeamish girls and boys into a boat.

"Come on!" Jack nudged Hiccup's shoulder and ran for an empty boat, the smaller boy right on his heels. They climbed in excitedly, twisting around and around as they tried to take everything in.

"Oh, excuse me!" Both boys turned to the rocky shore of the lake and found the girl with the really long hair standing there along with the red-head Jack had seen earlier at the train station. "Would you mind if we shared a boat with you?"

"No, not at all!" Jack smiled brightly and he and Hiccup moved aside to give the two girl's space as they climbed in.

"Alright, hold on!" The big man shouted before they could say any more and suddenly the boats started moving all on their own.

Jack and Hiccup shifted towards the front of the boat with the other two first-years in their boat, trying to see what was ahead of them. Then the castle came into view, silhouetted by the night sky and bright lights burning from nearly every window. It was terrifying and welcoming all at once. It was huge and Jack heard Hiccup muttering some strange words from another language under his breath as the boat drew closer and closer to the mysterious castle.

This was Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.


	2. Sorting

**Chapter 2: Sorting**

The boats began to hit the other side of the bank, sliding up onto the shore enough so they could get out without getting wet, and soon they were all on their feet again and climbing up a stairway towards two massive doors. They made it to the second landing of the stairway and found another very large man with a long white beard and dressed in a long, red coat standing between them and the double doors.

"Welcome to Hogwarts!" He exclaimed, arms opened welcomingly. The man had a very distinct Russian accent and a jolly kind of smile. "I am Professor Nicholas S. North. Now, in moments you will pass through these doors and join your classmates." He announced, gesturing to the doors behind him. "But before you can take your seats, you must be sorted into your Houses! They are Gryffindor, the brave and chivalrous!"

Jack saw the girl with extremely curly red hair and bright blue eyes grin and straighten up a bit out of the corner of his eye.

"Hufflepuff, the kind and loyal!"

The curly red-head looked at the girl with really long hair and a chameleon on her shoulder and nudged her a little as the other girl smiled modestly and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. Jack sneaked a peek at Hiccup and noticed he looked rather resigned.

"Ravenclaw, the intelligent and creative!"

Jack noticed a few perk up at this one, but Hiccup looked down at his feet, his brow furrowing slightly. Jack raised an eyebrow at it, but didn't say anything because Professor North continued.

"And Slytherin, the clever and ambitious!" He finished, making Jack smile. "While you are here, your House will be like your family. Your triumphs will earn you points for your House! But if you break the rules, you will lose points. At the end of the year, the House with the most points will be awarded the House Cup!" He paused for a moment to let all of the information they'd just heard sink in. "We will begin shortly." He announced, leaving them to wait in the stairway.

It was silent for a moment and then all of the students broke into hushed conversations with each other. Jack turned to the curly redhead who was standing beside him and said. "So, I guess you want to be in Gryffindor?"

The girl stuck her chin out proudly and her blue eyes blazed with confidence. "That's right!"

Jack chuckled as the girl's wild curls tumbled all around her head, but nodded his understanding towards eagerness over which house each of them would be sorted into.

Suddenly, the doors before them opened, effectively silencing all of the chatter that had risen from all of the first years talking with their friends. Professor North stood before them and nodded.

"We are ready for you!" He said and turned, leading them into the great hall. There were four long tables set up in the great hall, one for each of the Houses, and then a fifth one on a dais where the Professors sat. At the front of the dais, in front of the Professor's table, was a small stool with a raggedy old hat sitting on top of it. Professor North walked up and stood beside the stool, picking up a large scroll. "Now, when I call your name, you shall come forth, I will place the Sorting Hat on your head, and you will be sorted into your Houses!"

With that, he turned to his scroll and opened it. "Mavis Dracula!"

The first years looked around, quickly moving out of the way as a young girl with short black hair and bright blue eyes nervously made her way up to the stool. Sitting on the stool, she waited as Professor North lowered the large hat onto her head.

"Right." The hat suddenly spoke, making a couple of first years gasp or jump, but Mavis just sat still, waiting. "Yes, right then. SLYTHERIN!"

Cheers went up all around the hall, but the loudest came from the table on the far right, where the students wore green and silver on their school robes. Mavis sighed in relief and jumped up after Professor North had taken the hat off her head, walking over to join her new House.

"Ruffnut Thorston!" Professor North called. A girl with long blonde hair, braided and knotted, walked up and sat on the stool, looking a little more confident, but still nervous.

The hat took a moment, and then shouted. "GRYFFINDOR!"

"Tuffnut Thorston!" A boy, identical to the girl who had just gone up, walked up and the hat was placed on his head.

"GRYFFINDOR!" The hat called and the boy strolled over to his cheering House-mates. He and the girl high-fived and then banged their heads together, grinning. Jack grimaced and shook his head in confusion.

"Jonathan Stein!" A boy from farther back in the group came forward, smiling and sat down. He had crazy red hair that stuck straight up and he looked more excited than nervous.

"HUFFLEPUFF!" The hat decided.

"Snotlout Jorgenson!" A boy shoved his way through, nearly knocking Hiccup off his feet, and walked up to the dais, his chest puffed out.

"SLYTHERIN!"

"Astrid Hofferson!" A girl came from the back and Hiccup hurried out of her way when she passed by them, making Jack shoot him a confused look.

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"Wee Dingwall!" A blonde boy with a dazed and unfocused look in his eyes went up next.

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"Princess Rapunzel of Corona!" The girl with really long hair froze and it took a nudge from the curly redhead to get her to go up in front of everyone. She hesitantly sat down and the hat rested on top of her long, golden hair.

"She's a princess?" Hiccup gasped quietly, wide eyed as he and Jack shared gobsmacked looks before watching the girl get sorted.

"Hm, I see. Very creative, yes. But I think you'd do best in..." The hat paused for a moment and then. "HUFFLEPUFF!"

Rapunzel visibly relaxed and hurried over to her table, shaking hands with everyone who was congratulating her and welcoming her to their House. Jack smiled, happy for her. She seemed really nice. Then Professor North continued.

"Young Macintosh!" A tall boy with black hair and a fairly handsome face walked up, radiating confidence, and Jack thought he might have seen just a touch of envy on Hiccup's face for a moment.

"SLYTHERIN!"

"Fishlegs Ingerman!" A large, slightly chubby boy scurried up to the stool and sat down, fidgeting nervously.

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Princess Merida of Clan Dunbroch!" The curly redhead grinned and nodded to Jack and Hiccup.

"Wish me luck." She whispered as she passed.

"Luck." Hiccup squeaked back.

"Is everyone here a princess?" Jack wondered incredulously and watched with Hiccup as she walked up to the Sorting Hat, her head held high.

"Ah, interesting." The hat said once it had been placed on her head. "I know just what to do with you... GRYFFINDOR!" Merida beamed and once the hat was lifted from her head she nearly skipped over to the Gryffindor table.

"Young MacGuffin!" Professor North called and another large, slightly chubby boy with blonde hair scuttled up to the hat, the only difference being that this boy was even larger then the last one.

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

Jack smiled as MacGuffin went over to the Hufflepuff table. The long-haired princess welcomed him brightly, her smile lighting up the entire room, it seemed. Jack had to restrain himself from chuckling at the two large, timid boys chatting with an excited and happy looking princess.

"Jackson Overland-Frost!"

Jack was pulled from his thoughts and he looked up at the hat, smiling. It didn't look too hard. He walked up and sat on the stool as Professor North lowered the hat onto his head.

_"Hm, yet another interesting young spirit."_ The hat's voice echoed in Jack's head and he smirked.

_"So that's how it's done, is it? You can see my thoughts, then?"_ He asked the hat and it chuckled.

_"Clever boy. You're very quick. I see you are very caring and considerate. You're a natural leader because of your desire to protect those you care about. I can also see that you wish to be like your father. He was a good man."_ The hat noted.

_"Thank you."_ Jack thought back a bit sadly as an image of his father and him passed through his head.

"Very well, then!" The hat suddenly spoke out loud. "I know precisely where you belong, boy. SLYTHERIN!"

Jack grinned and jumped up, handing the sorting hat to Professor North and then rushing over to his House and their table. His father's House. Jack spared a moment in his House's excitement to look over at Hiccup and saw that the first year group was growing very small. There were only a few left and Hiccup was fidgeting nervously.

"Gabby Numeral!"

A girl with a long face, red hair that curled only at her bangs, and a high ponytail walked up as if it were no big deal. "GRYFFINDOR!"

"Daren Fouls!"

A chubby boy with black hair and squinting eyes stomped his way up to the sorting hat and plopped into the seat. "SLYTHERIN!"

"Coraline Jones!"

A petite looking girl with blue hair, brown eyes, and an interested look on her face walked up, looking at the hat curiously as she sat down on the stool. "RAVENCLAW!"

"Wyborn Lovat!"

A boy with a slightly hunched back, brown hair, green eyes, and a nervous facade scurried up to the hat next. "HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Penny Forrester!"

A girl with short, light brown hair and bright brown eyes hurried forward. "GRYFFINDOR!"

"Violet Parr!"

A girl with black hair that hung in her face and dark blue eyes walked forward calmly. "HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Talia Eagle!"

Another girl with a brown braid and brown eyes walked on steady feet as she approached the dais and sat down. "GRYFFINDOR!"

"Lara Fash!"

A girl who kept her blonde hair up in a perfect bun and had charming hazel eyes sashayed forward. "SLYTHERIN!"

"Wilbur Robinson!"

A boy with black hair and brown eyes smiled confidently as he walked up and waited to be sorted. "SLYTHERIN!"

"Justin Yearn!"

The only other first year left to be sorted, besides Hiccup, had ginger colored hair and teal eyes. Jack couldn't help but notice how small and nervous Hiccup looked when Justin left him on his own in the middle of the great hall. "GRYFFINDOR!"

"Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third!" A few laughs fluttered through the air and Jack suddenly understood why Hiccup had been so nervous the first time he told him his name.

"Who names their kid 'Hiccup'?" One of the older Slytherin's snickered and Jack shot him a glare that went unnoticed.

Looking back up, Jack saw the hat settle on Hiccup's head and then... nothing. The hat was silent, and Jack wondered what it was they were talking about in Hiccup's head. Why was it taking so long?

After about five minutes the other students started to notice, too, and whispers started drifting through the hall as everyone waited for Hiccup to be sorted. After another two minutes of waiting, Hiccup's eyes went wide and the hat finally spoke.

"RAVENCLAW!"

Jack cheered as loud as the other Ravenclaws as Hiccup slowly made his way over to the table with blue and bronze striped ties. Jack laughed a little, though, because his friend looked like he was in a daze or something; wide-eyed and pale.

As Hiccup stumbled among the other Ravenclaws and Jack laughed with some of his fellow Slytherin's, he couldn't help but wonder what would happen during his first year at Hogwarts.


	3. Classes, Letters, and Fitting In

**Chapter 3: Classes, Letters, and Fitting In**

Jack did fairly well during his first week of classes. He was best at Charms, which he had with Gryffindor, but he had been disappointed when he saw that his schedule only allowed for two classes with Ravenclaw because Hiccup had quickly become his best friend.

On Mondays and Wednesdays, Jack had Charms with Gryffindor, History of Magic with Hufflepuff, and then Potions with Ravenclaw at the end of the day. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, Jack had Astronomy with Hufflepuff at midnight, and then later in the afternoon Defense Against the Dark Arts with Ravenclaw, and then finished with Transfiguration with Gryffindor. On Fridays he only had two classes - Herbology with Gryffindor, and Flying with Hufflepuff.

Jack's favorite teachers were Professor North from Charms, and Professor Sandman from Transfiguration. He got along with all his other teachers well enough, but Professor Bunnymund, he found, was extremely fun to annoy. Jack had very quickly made a name for himself with the DADA professor, and Bunnymund was not impressed.

Despite Hiccup's warnings that he would get a detention on his first week of school if he didn't behave better in Defense Against the Dark Arts, Jack still tried his best to aggravate the Professor. This resulted in many cuffs to the back of the head, and a handful of eye rolls, but the Professor never did give him a detention.

Professor Bunnymund had even earned a title among the students. He wasn't mean, in fact he was rather nice, but he was more strict than any of the other teachers, and he was impossible to prank. Anyone who had tried had been caught before the prank could be carried out. Some said it was his large ears, some said it was some sort of sixth sense, - because Professor Bunnymund was in fact a Pooka - but everyone knew the stories.

It only spurred Jack on even more.

Before anyone realized, it was Friday, and Jack was flying on a broom at his very first Flying class alongside Mavis and Wilbur, both of whom Jack found to be the most interesting of the Slytherin first-years. Along with him and his fellow Slytherins were the first-year Hufflepuffs. Jack had recognized Rapunzel from the train and sat next to her during History of Magic earlier in the week because the chair next to her was the only seat left by the time he had finally found his way to the classroom, so he waved to in Flying her whenever they made eye-contact. Rapunzel would always smile widely and wave back.

Captain Amelia, their flying instructor, didn't allow them to go very high, but they learned all of the basics of steering, and she let them spend the last half-hour of their class free-flying so they could get used to the feel of controlling a broom. When she finally did call them down she gave them all a good praise for an excellent first day. Jack was so excited to tell Hiccup about it, Flying was definitely his favorite class!

"Now, you can hand in your brooms to Mr. Hawkins by the shed there and then you're free to go." Captain Amelia told them, nodding to the medium sized shed in the corner of the yard. There was a boy there roughly the same age as Jack, and he wore the Hogwarts uniform - a Ravenclaw.

They each handed in their brooms as the Ravenclaw boy nodded to them and placed each of the brooms onto a table with wood polish and rags on it. Jack handed his in last and lingered just long enough to see 'Mr. Hawkins' pick up one of the rags and start polishing the recently used brooms.

Why was a Ravenclaw student polishing school brooms and working for the Flying Professor? Jack wondered, but then shrugged it off as a thought to save for a rainy day because Hiccup was going to be waiting for him in the library.

When Jack found his way to the library, Hiccup had already claimed a table in the very back on the upper, balcony-like second floor. It was right next to a window on a small dais surrounded by bookshelves and hidden from the rest of the library.

"How did you find this little spot? I had trouble just finding the library!" Jack said as he dropped his bag and plopped in the seat next to Hiccup.

"I come here every day. I spent the first two days just looking for a good spot like this." Hiccup informed him. "I like it a lot. I don't think anyone else knows it exists because it's always free and the only time someone even comes close to this section is when the librarian has to come get one of the books because a student can't find it." Hiccup pointed to the shelves and Jack couldn't help but notice that all of the books looked ancient. Sure most of Hogwarts books were pretty old, but these were probably the oldest books available to the students. It was no wonder why no one ever bothered with the second floor much.

"Can't we go do something interesting?" Jack whined, resting his arms on the table in front of him and placing his chin on them. "What are you even studying? The Professor's haven't given us any homework yet!"

"I'm going over next week's lessons, so I'll be prepared for them." Hiccup shrugged, not bothering to take his eyes off the book he was reading.

"Is it your life goal to become hermit, or something?" Jack demanded.

"No. I just like to be left alone when it comes to people I don't know." Hiccup shrugged and then smirked quietly behind his small book that didn't quite hide it. "Besides, you're needy enough to be all the company I need."

"Ugh!" Jack groaned, ignoring Hiccup's sarcasm. "I'll never understand how you spend so much time in such a boring place!"

"I like to read. And it's better then being out there where I'm susceptible to spit-balls and swirlies." Hiccup retorted, finally closing his book to fully face Jack.

"Suscept-ie-what? Never mind. Who gave you a swirly?" Jack interrogated, suddenly looking very serious. "Because if someone gave you a swirly I swear I'll shove their heads down a -"

"Stop! Stop, stop! I don't want to know!" Hiccup interrupted waving his hands around. "It was just an expression." He sighed.

"You're sure." Jack scrutinized with the same serious look that just didn't look quite right on his face.

"Yes, I'm sure!" Hiccup sighed. "Why would it even matter if it did happen? I'm weird, if you haven't noticed." He muttered playing with the paper bound edge of the book he was holding.

"So? I like your weirdness! And as your best friend it is my obligation to make sure that no one ever messes with you!" Jack stated with a firm nod and Hiccup snorted.

"Says the guy who's just as weird as I am!" Hiccup elbowed his shoulder lightly.

"Oh, come on! There must be someone besides me that you like to hang out with." Jack believed in vain.

Hiccup shook his head. "The only person I know outside of my House is you, and the other Ravenclaws? They think I'm weird."

"How so?" Jack wanted to know.

"Well, for a House that's supposed to be full of people with 'quick wits' none of them really understand sarcasm." Hiccup began.

"Oh, boy." Jack chuckled, earning a playful glare from Hiccup.

"And we're just not interested in the same things, I guess. I can't really hold a conversation with anyone, so they just kind of gave up trying to talk to me, I think. But no one's been mean or anything, so it doesn't matter." Hiccup shrugged. "And besides, it's only the first week. Have you really made many friends yet?"

"I guess not." Jack admitted. "It's hard in Slytherin because you have to figure out who's a Blood-Purist-bully and who's not without actually talking to anyone about it, so you don't start a feud inside the House. There are people I find interesting and get along with, but I don't know them well enough yet to call them my friends..."

"Sounds like we're both having a little trouble fitting in." Hiccup slumped.

"Ah, who cares? It's not like you need a ton of friends to be happy. You really just need one good one." Jack smiled a tiny, hopeful smile. "You're my very best friend, Hiccup."

"And you're mine too, Jack." Hiccup smiled.

"And we'll always be friends forever, won't we?" Jack grinned, standing on his knees in his chair so he could ruffle Hiccup's hair with both his hands. Hiccup laughed and started wrestling back.

"Yeah, forever." Hiccup promised, managing to wrestle Jack off his head and mess up his hair just a little in return. Jack yanked himself away from the wrestling match suddenly, his eyes lighting up with an idea.

"Hey, let's go exploring!" He said.

"What are we looking for?" Hiccup asked as he shoved his books into his bag.

"A second-year from Slytherin, Flynn Rider, told me that there are secret passages hidden everywhere in this place. Maybe we can find a few!" Jack said excitedly.

"Let's go!" Hiccup laughed, shoving Jack's shoulder teasingly as he ran ahead. Jack whirled around and ran after him, right on his heels.

Late that night Jack flopped back onto his bed with a big smile on his face. He and Hiccup had found two secret passageways already in just one afternoon of exploring. All of the excitement had him a little hyper and unable to sleep, though, so Jack decided to write to his mother and sister back home. After retrieving his quill and paper, Jack flopped onto his stomach on his bed, and started writing.

_Dear Mom and Emma,_

_I'm having a lot of fun here at school. Hogwarts is incredible! It's so big, I had trouble finding all of my classrooms this week, and the Great Hall's ceiling is enchanted to look like the sky! Classes are pretty fun, but we haven't gotten any homework yet either. My favorite is Flying. I really want to try out for quidditch next year! Captain Amelia says that after I get a little better I can start using my staff as a broom! That way we won't have to buy one next year if I get on the team._

_And guess what! I'm in Slytherin, just like Dad! I've met a lot of the other Slytherin's, and I think I'm starting to figure out who's a blood-purist and who's not. But Dad was right, it's not always easy to tell. I've got one friend, though! He's a Ravenclaw, and his name's Hiccup. We met on the train. He's really cool._

_I hope you're both doing well. I miss you both a lot. I love you. -Jack._

Jack leaned back on his heels and reread his letter to make sure he had said everything he wanted to. Once he finished reading it, he nodded with satisfaction, and tucked the letter into an envelope, deciding he would send it off first thing in the morning.

He placed the letter onto the nightstand and then blew out the candle. He rolled over, pulling the covers up to his armpit, and letting himself sink into the soft mattress. Soon he managed to relax and fall asleep, but throughout the night his normally happy and bright dreamland was plagued by dark nightmares...


	4. The First of Many

**Chapter 4: The First of Many**

Monday came all too quickly for most of the first-years, and Jack was off first thing after breakfast to Charms with his fellow Slytherin's and the Gryffindor first-years. Out of all the House rivalries, Jack noticed, Slytherin and Gryffindor were the worst. Their Charms class was completely segregated with red and gold on the left side of the classroom and green and silver on the right. Jack didn't really understand it much, but he didn't question it either. The older Slytherin's were constantly trying to spread rumors to the other first-years about how horrible the Gryffindor's were, but Jack wasn't one to believe those kinds of things without seeing it first. Surely the entire House couldn't be that bad, right?

When Prof. North walked into the classroom many of the students from both sides either smiled or waved. The Deputy Headmaster was kind and jolly. It was hard not to like him.

As the students all turned to get their books out, Prof. North prepared his desk and notes for the class. When everything settled, North turned to them and smiled. "Good morning, children!"

"Good morning, Professor North." The class chorused together.

"I have some very exciting news for all of you! This weekend Quidditch tryouts will be held for each of the Houses!" North grinned widely, his excitement evident in the way he gestured wildly with his hands. Gasps and excited whispered fluttered into the air and North smiled even bigger, if that was possible. "Yes, though first-years are not allowed on to the teams this is your chance to impress your House's Quidditch team. Captain Amelia will be present to allow first-years free-flying time on the Quidditch Pitch after the tryouts, and all of the team captains will be watching for players or possible competition for next year!" North explained to them.

Jack was on the edge of his seat. He had to give the Slytherin team a reason to remember him. Competition among second-years was hard enough, but when you added in all of the experienced older students things got really hard. With only seven spots to fill, everyone was going to be giving it their all.

"But that is for this weekend. For now, we learn our first spell, hmm?" North turned and started writing on the chalkboard. "Today we attempt the Levitation Charm! Everyone has a feather, yes?" All of the students nodded or picked up the feather they had found on their desks upon walking into the classroom. "Excellent. Now, remember the wand movement we've been practicing: Swish and Flick."

"Swish and Flick." Everyone repeated after picking up their wands. North had explained to Jack that wand and staff movements were, essentially, the same, so all he had to do was hold his staff near the top and just move the crook of his staff.

"And don't forget to speak clearly! Wingardium Leviosa." North nodded to them to begin trying.

By the end of class only a few of the students had managed to lift their feathers about an inch off the table before it fell back down again, and Prof. North promised they'd get another chance at it on Wednesday.

Having only the ten minute lapse between classes, Jack was off to History of Magic with the rest of the Slytherin's rather quickly and took his usual seat next to Rapunzel who smiled at him in greeting. They didn't speak to each other much, but Jack was pretty sure that was only because neither of them knew what to talk about.

Almost immediately after Jack had pulled out his book, A History of Magic, Professor Toothiana came fluttering in. Professor Toothiana was a great teacher on many students accounts. She was always very kind and happy and willing to help, and she happened to be a Queen Fairy - Capable of being human size, or tiny fairy size at any time she wanted. However, she and her fleet of mini-fairies - as the students call them - were Warrior Fairies. A species of fairies that are covered in feathers, and have a strong instinct to protect.

"Good morning, class!" Toothiana sang as she spun to face the class with a piece of chalk in her hand.

"Good morning, Professor!" They all smiled back.

"Now, I know it's only the second week and you're all still getting used to the school, but we need to get started on some serious learning, so open your books to page fourteen." Prof. Toothiana instructed, drawing something on the black board.

This first week of classes Prof. Toothiana had them all play name games and mingle to get to know some fellow year-mates and students. The only real work they had done had been going through the first chapter of the book, which was really only an introduction to the rest of the book.

"So, to start off the learning streak, we'll warm up our minds with something easy." Toothiana finished drawing on the board and flew to one side, so everyone could see it.

The drawing was essentially a family tree sort of diagram, except there were no names written anywhere. There were three branches of the diagram at the very bottom that all connected to one in the middle, where a space had been left blank for something to be written, and then there was one last arrow pointing towards the top of the board.

"Who can tell me at least one of the three creatures that are capable of using magic?" Toothiana looked at the class expectantly, and Rapunzel's hand shot up. "Yes, Rapunzel."

"Humans and Seers, Professor." Rapunzel stated proudly.

"Very good!" Toothiana praised, writing down the two on the bottom of the board. Humans in the middle and Seers to the right. "And the third? Anyone can answer." Toothiana assured upon seeing Rapunzel's uncertain expression. Several students raised their hands, but Jack was the first so Toothiana nodded to him.

"Wilder-Creatures." He supplied easily.

"Excellent!" Toothiana smiled, writing the last one on the left of the bottom line. "And I'm sure all of you know what we call a creature who can use magic and trains it, is..." Toothiana prompted, her hand with the chalk hovering over the single middle section as she looked over her shoulder at everyone.

"Wizards and Witches." The class supplied automatically, and Toothiana wrote it down.

"Alright then. Who can tell me what the third and final level of magical ability?" Toothiana questioned, scanning the class for any raised hands. "No one?" She wondered, and then her eyes suddenly lit up. "Yes, Violet?"

Everyone turned to see a Hufflepuff girl with dark hair that hung in her face sitting in the very back of the class, her hand raised very hesitantly. "Um, isn't it a Sorcerer?"

"Wonderful!" Toothiana gave a twirl and then wrote it on the very top. "Now, as we all know, there are three categories of creatures that are capable of using magic: Humans, Seers, and Wilder-Creatures. We all know humans, and Seers can come in many different forms. Wilder-Creatures, can anyone tell me about those? Jack?"

"They're known as Creatures from the Forest. They can be anything really: Vampires, werewolves, centaurs, fairies, sprites. Basically any magical creature that isn't human, but still has the intelligence of one." Jack simplified it as best he could. It was hard to understand, even for him.

"That is correct. Any Wilder-creature can have magic, just as any human or Seer." Toothiana explained to them as many of the students listened intently, taking notes. "I don't suppose any of you would know what it is that makes a Sorcerer?"

No one raised their hand.

"I didn't think so." Toothiana smiled at them gently. "It's not a very common thing: To be a Sorcerer. Most Sorcerers have been foretold by prophecies to be either great heroes or terrible evils. But Sorcerers are very powerful wizards or witches. They have more magic than any other creature, and this power often causes them to... change, in some way."

Another Hufflepuff raised his hand, and Professor Toothiana called him Fishlegs. "But why do they change, and in what way?" He asked.

"Well, when a Wizard has trained his magic to be strong enough, his magic will then change his physical form. For example, I'm sure you all know Professor Sandman." Toothiana looked at each of them.

"Of course we do. He's the only good Sorcerer in the entire world." Mavis pointed out.

"And he's the perfect example. Professor Sandman specializes in dream magic, and so when he Changed his physical form merged with his magic and his dream sand. Does that make sense?" Professor Toothiana looked around for any confused faces.

"So it's sort of a right of passage then?" Rapunzel asked. "You can't become a Sorcerer without this 'change'?"

"Exactly." Toothiana nodded. "Now, the reason we are discussing this is because as we learn about all of history, we have to remember what each of the levels mean..." Toothiana began, moving on with her lecture. Eventually she had them break off into partners with the people sitting next to them, so Rapunzel was able to help Jack a lot as he struggled to stay focused and awake with all the reading and writing.

By the end of class the both of them were laughing over a joke Jack had made, and they waved goodbye to each other as Rapunzel left to go to her next class and Jack turned to go to Potions with Ravenclaw.

Ms. Carver was the Potions professor at Hogwarts. She was an old woman with a hunch and a large nose. She hobbled about the classroom, peering at the students work with a talking raven perched on her shoulder, and new bear carvings littered her desk every morning.

She was currently breathing down Snotlout Jorgenson's neck as he attempted to brew the first potion the class had ever been assigned. After a whole week of doing nothing but learning about different cauldrons and reading about different potion ingredients, it was a bit nerve-wracking. But Jack wasn't worried because Hiccup was his potions partner, and Hiccup was good at potions. At least, Jack thought he was. They hadn't needed to start over even once while the rest of the class was on at least their second try.

Hiccup stirred the liquid very gently five times, moving the spoon clock-wise, but Jack had more than just a Cure for Boils on his mind. "Hey, Hiccup." Jack whispered to gain the other boy's attention.

"What?" Hiccup wanted to know, after checking to ensure that Ms. Carver wasn't looking.

"I've got an idea, but I need your help." Jack explained vaguely, and Hiccup pursed his lips suspiciously.

"Jack." He hissed warningly once he saw the mischievous glint in his friend's eye. "I swear, if you even think about freezing this potion -"

"No! Although that would be fun..." Jack admitted. "But that's not what I had in mind. I want to prank a professor." Jack lowered his voice even more for that part, and looked down at his notes as he said it, to make it look like he was just reading to himself.

"What?" Hiccup demanded a second time. "Are you crazy? We would get in so much trouble!"

"Only if we got caught." Jack pointed out with a smirk on his face. "Besides, those stories about Professor Bunnymund are probably all made up!"

"Professor Bunnymund? That's who you want to... Oh, no. No! Nuh-uh, you're a moron if you think you can get away with something like that. We're only first years, Jack! Seventh years have tried to prank him, and failed. Miserably!" Hiccup informed him.

"Well, then, call me an idiot because I am totally serious. I'm gonna do this." Jack insisted.

"Okay." Hiccup sighed tiredly, making Jack smile in victory. That was surprisingly easy. "You're an idiot." The smile dropped.

"Hiccup!" Jack whined as Hiccup removed the cauldron from the flame. Jack opened and held the medium sized vial steady as Hiccup used a ladle to pour it in.

"Say whatever you want, Jack, I'm not going to help you prank Professor Bunnymund." Hiccup told him with a nod of finality. Jack pouted, but said nothing because Ms. Carver then came up to them to test the quality of their potion.

After they received a perfect score in potions, Jack spent the rest of the day trying to convince Hiccup to help him, but the younger boy was very firm in his decision. Jack eventually gave up, and the two went to their separate common rooms for the night.

The next time they saw each other was the following day in Defense Against the Dark Arts. Hiccup rolled his eyes when Jack sat down next to him and gave him a pouty face.

"Would you quit it? One of us has to have some common sense, you know!" Hiccup grumbled as Jack continued staring at him with his huge, blue eyes.

"But you love jokes just as much as I do!" Jack argued and Hiccup sighed. Before Hiccup could come up with a retort, Professor Bunnymund entered the classroom and they both fell silent, casting quick glances at each other.

"Happy Tuesday, first-years." Professor Bunnymund said as he placed all of his things on the desk and erased the seventh-year notes on the chalk board.

"Happy Tuesday." The class replied steadily.

"I hope you've all done your homework because today we begin the practical portion of our class." Bunnymund announced. Several students cheered while another handful groaned, but Bunnymund looked optimistic. "Now, it doesn't matter how good you are at spells right now, what's important is that you improve over the course of this class. If you do that, it's proof that we're all doing our jobs." The class settled at the Professor's words and nodded, now focused entirely on the lesson at hand. "The first spell you are going to try is the Curse of Bogies. We will not be using this spell on fellow classmates." Bunnymund told them, his stern glare landing on Jack, who smiled innocently. "Everyone line up. Single file, please!"

As the class shifted about quite loudly, trying to get into a line, Professor Bunnymund pulled out one of the practicing dummies from the closet. It was just a cloth dummy, stuffed with cotton most likely, but it was enchanted to react to any spells that needed practicing. Professor Bunnymund put it a few feet away from the first student in line.

"Alright, give it a go, then!" Professor Bunnymund said, stepping aside so the student could attempt the spell.

"Mucus ad Nauseam!" The girl, a Ravenclaw, cried out. The expected green light shot towards the dummy, but as it got closer the green light got smaller and smaller. By the time it hit the dummy it wasn't even the size of Jack's pinkie nail, and the dummy did nothing.

Professor Bunnymund explained what went wrong, and gave her a few pointers on how to do better next time and what to practice on. Then the girl went to the back of the line and the next person in line stepped forward. Another girl, but she was a Slytherin. Jack remembered that her name was Lara.

"Mucus ad Nauseam." She recited unenthusiastically, her face twisted in slight disgust. The tip of her wand lit up a bit, but the spell didn't make it any further.

Once again Professor Bunnymund gave the girl advice and instruction on what went wrong and how to do better, before sending her to the back of the line and motioning the next student forward. It went on like this for a while, and no one managed to perform the spell very well. One or two students managed to hit the dummy, but nothing actually happened.

Jack went and did fairly well. He produced the spell just fine, but much like the first girl, it disintegrated until it hit the dummy and then shattered completely. Professor Bunnymund pointed out a slight flaw in his staff work that was making it hard for him to give his spells more power and showed him how to do it properly. Then it was Hiccup's turn. One of the other Slytherin's snickered when he walked up, so Jack gave him a thumbs-up for encouragement as he passed.

Hiccup took a deep breath and then held up his wand. "Mucus ad Nauseam." He pronounced clearly and his wand movements were precise. A green light shot out and hit the dummy, making it spin around on its stand until it finally stopped, its once smiling yarn mouth now frowning and cotton spilling out of its nose.

"Excellent work, Mr. Haddock! Well done!" Bunnymund praised, applauding the job well done as Hiccup blushed crimson. Jack beamed at Hiccup as he joined him at the end of the line.

"That was so cool!" Jack whispered and Hiccup blushed harder.

"It wasn't that cool, Jack. It's a first-year spell." Hiccup whispered back. Jack rolled his blue eyes that were shining with amusement and merriment.

"Sometimes I think you're a little too modest." Jack told him. He decided against telling Hiccup that Rapunzel had told him about their Charms class where Hiccup had gotten the levitation charm on his first try as well. "You know, I could really use someone as smart as you to help with my, uh... plans." He added as an after thought. Hiccup groaned and rolled his eyes.

The rest of the class went on pretty much the same. No one was able to beat Hiccup's curse, but by the end of class almost everyone had gotten better at it. As Jack and Hiccup left the classroom, Professor Bunnymund gave Hiccup another praise for doing so well. Hiccup blushed again and hurried off towards his next class, only stopping to give Jack a quick goodbye. Jack just chuckled and sauntered over to his Transfiguration class with Gryffindor.

* * *

"You're crazy." Hiccup remarked.

"Come on, Hic! If we can prank him, we'll be Hogwarts legends!" Jack said excitedly.

"We'll get in trouble." Hiccup worried.

"So? The worst he could do is give us detention." Jack shrugged and Hiccup gave him a flat look.

"Yeah, or expel us. I can't risk that." Hiccup shook his head firmly. After classes had ended, the two friends had met up in the library as they always did, but Jack had almost immediately started pestering Hiccup to help with his plan to prank Professor Bunnymund.

"Do you really think Professor Bunnymund would have us expelled for one little prank?" Jack asked, and Hiccup's annoyed grumble was enough. "Look, Hiccup. We have an opportunity here to be awesome. To take life by the reins and go for a ride! To live while we're young! Now do you want to be remembered as that awesome guy who just went for it, or do you want to be that sad little footnote in the book of life all because you opted to play it safe and never take any risks? Because you went with the rest of the crowd and chose to be a goody-two-shoes that always follows the rules? Hmm?"

Jack stared Hiccup in the eye for a long time as the boy tried to stay strong, but then shifted uncomfortably, and then finally caved in on himself.

"FINE! Fine! I'll help you! Just enough with the inspirational speeches!" Hiccup exclaimed, thumping his forehead against the flat surface of their usual table as Jack whooped excitedly.

"Yeah! This is gonna be great!" Jack proclaimed.

"Fantastic." Hiccup growled sarcastically then huffed. "What did you have in mind?"

"Ooh. You're gonna love this!" Jack grinned devilishly.

* * *

That night after everyone had fallen asleep, Professor Bunnymund was doing his normal rounds. He had agreed to take the night shift for Ms. Carver because she 'had some important wood carving to get to that couldn't wait' and, quite frankly, she gave Bunnymund the creeps - the old crow.

Anyways, he was just passing by his own classroom on the third-floor when he heard a small clattering sound, like a stack of books falling over.

"Shh! Keep quiet!" A voice hissed quietly, but Professor Bunnymund's sharp sense of hearing was able to pick it up and locate the source as coming from inside his classroom.

"It wasn't me! These things are everywhere!" Another voice replied, just as quiet. Bunnymund immediately picked both of them out as boys.

"I told you they would do this when we were planning this whole thing!" The first voice returned as Bunnymund wrapped his hand around the door handle, smirking smugly.

"Well, we're done. Now we just have to get back to our dorms before anyone catches us." The second voice sounded pleased with himself, and that's when Professor Bunnymund threw open the door to his classroom.

The Professor froze unable to comprehend what was happening for a moment because his entire classroom was covered in ice and snow as winter pixies flew about wreaking havoc. Bunnymund's eyes fell upon the only other figures in the room: the two boys in the center of the classroom, holding a large bird cage.

"WHAT IS GOING ON IN HERE!" Professor Bunnymund shouted as he pulled out his wand, but one of the pixies quickly snatched it away before he could perform any spells. He rounded on the two boys, who stared at him like deer at a hunter.

"Professor Bunnymund!" Jack Frost grinned nervously. "We weren't expecting to see you here..." He chuckled helplessly.

"What do you two think you're doing?" Professor Bunnymund growled, glaring at the two of them. Jack and Hiccup looked at each other, fidgeting, as Jack struggled to find something to say.

"Uh... Building a snowman?" Hiccup offered lamely, making the Professor's eye twitch.


	5. Merida Dunbroch

**Chapter 5: Merida Dunbroch**

Detention. Every night for a month, including weekends. And they had to clean out all of the snow and ice from Professor Bunnymund's entire classroom. That was the punishment Jack and Hiccup received for the prank, but it was so worth it.

The older students had been slapping them on their backs and cheering for them as they passed in the halls ever since the prank, and their year-mates were just as impressed, which earned them quite a bit of respect in the common rooms.

Jack had been terrified for a moment, though, when Professor Bunnymund mentioned suspending them from the Quidditch try-outs and the following free-flying time, but the Professor must have seen Jack's expression at the time because he relented just a little and settled for detention and the cleaning the classroom punishment instead.

Now Saturday had finally come, and nearly every first-year was out flying under Captain Amelia's careful eye. The tryouts had been fun to watch, and everyone couldn't wait to hear who had made the team, but Jack was more focused on increasing his chances of making it onto the team next year. He wanted to impress the Slytherin Quidditch captain, a kind fifth-year student named Kenai. He had brown eyes and black hair, and he was one of the Slytherin Prefects, acting as a big-brother sort of figure to all of the younger kids. He was a nice guy, but getting his attention in a crowd of ten other first-years wasn't easy, and Jack couldn't seem to think of anything that might dazzle the older student.

Sighing, Jack flew over to the stands and landed next to where Hiccup was sitting. The other boy had a book in his hand, completely uninterested in what was happening, and Jack snatched it away to get his attention.

"How can you be reading after something so exciting?" Jack wanted to know. "Tryouts were amazing! Did you see that flip that one sixth-year did? It was awesome!" Jack grinned.

Hiccup pawed at the air, trying to get his book back, but when it became apparent that Jack wasn't going to let that happen anytime soon, he sighed and shrugged. "I guess. I was just expecting something a little more exciting with all the fuss everyone's been making. And isn't the Snitch supposed to be super fast, or something? I could see it the whole time."

Jack blinked, but then shook his head and rolled his eyes. "Well, of course not! They probably enchanted it to go slower for all the students trying out. No one here has the proper training to play a hard-core game of Quidditch. Just wait until I get on the team next year then it'll be double the excitement!" Jack informed him.

"Whatever you say, Jack." Hiccup rolled his eyes with a smile. "Can I have my book back now?"

Jack frowned and gave the book back. "Come on, Hic. Why don't you come flying with me? Maybe you can help me get Kenai's attention." Jack looked hopeful, but Hiccup shook his head.

"I get laughed at enough in Flying class, I don't need to spend my Saturday getting whacked in the face with a broom, too." Hiccup said.

"Oh, you just had a rough start, that's all! I'm sure if you practice you'll be flying around everywhere." Jack suggested, tugging on Hiccup's robe sleeve.

"Sorry, Jack, but I'm no good at Flying." Hiccup told him, taking his sleeve back as Jack pouted.

"Hi, Jack! Hi, Hiccup!" A cheery voice chirped from behind Jack, making him turn around. Rapunzel stood there smiling and hugging her Herbology book to her chest. "Did you like the Quidditch tryouts? I didn't think they'd be so intense."

"Hi, Rapunzel." Hiccup gave a shy wave.

"They were great!" Jack beamed. "I can't wait for tryouts next year!"

Rapunzel smiled at him, sitting next to Hiccup. "You wanna be on the team?"

"Yeah! My dad was the Slytherin Keeper when he was in school, and he used to tell me all about the Quidditch games. He even taught me how to play!" Jack's excited chatter stopped for a moment as he watched Hiccup pull out his Herbology book and a notebook that was, not surprisingly, filled with notes.

"You know, I met a girl from Gryffindor who really likes Quidditch, too. Maybe you two should practice together. She's really nice, and she likes to help other people improve their skills, I think. I see her helping other students all the time in Defense Against the Dark Arts." Rapunzel informed him.

"I'm helping Rapunzel with some Herbology homework." Hiccup supplied once he saw Jack's curious looks that he kept throwing at the Herbology books while also trying to stay focused on what Rapunzel was saying. "We didn't have enough time to finish in class, so we decided to meet up during free-time. You'll have to excuse him, he gets distracted easily." Hiccup added, turning to Rapunzel who giggled.

"Do not!" Jack said childishly, his eyes laughing.

"Do too." Hiccup replied.

"Okay, maybe a little." Jack relented with a grin, scratching the back of his head sheepishly. Hiccup snorted, and Rapunzel laughed more. "Enjoy your books. I'm gonna go try and get Kenai to notice how amazingly awesome I am."

Hiccup rolled his eyes, and Rapunzel gave them both a look of great amusement as Jack flew off on his broom from the school's flying-broom closet. He can hear Hiccup and Rapunzel beginning their tutoring session as he flies away, but he's more focused on figuring out how to get everyone's attention.

After some mental debate, Jack decided to take a lap around the Quidditch pitch. He flew at an even pace, not trying much at all because he was so lost in thought, but then something zipped past him on his right side. Jack looked ahead and saw the red and gold colors of a Gryffindor robe. He grinned and sped up to catch the other student.

"You're pretty good at flying." Jack called over the wind once he had pulled up beside the other student. Jack remembered seeing her at the train station because, really, how couldn't he? The girl had the reddest, wildest hair he had ever seen, and her eyes were a bright baby blue color. "How come we've never bumped into each other before now?"  
"Maybe I'm just too fast for ya!" The girl smirked cockily, her hair whipping around behind her like fire.

"Oh, is that how it's gonna be?" Jack's eyes narrowed as his grin widened excitedly.

"I've really got no idea what ye're talkin' about." The girl shrugged without taking her hands off her broom, feigning a look of innocence.

"Oh, please." Jack rolled his eyes. "I could fly circles around anyone if I wanted to!"

"Care to put yer money where yer mouth is, Slytherin?" The girl quirked an eyebrow at him, and he tilted his head a little to indicate his interest. "Three laps around the Quidditch pitch. Loser admits the winner is a better flier." She announced boldly, and Jack grinned.

"I'll take that bet!" Jack said, and suddenly the two were shooting off around the Quidditch pitch.

Jack laughed as the wind blew through his brown hair, his blue eyes shining with excitement. The two of them weaved between the sixteen towers that surrounded the Quidditch pitch. They swept by a Hufflepuff tower, nearing one of the Ravenclaw towers, and Jack spared a glance at the seats between the two towers, seeing Hiccup and Rapunzel looking up at him and the Gryffindor girl.

Looking forward again, Jack found that the girl had managed to gain a few feet on him while he was distracted, so he pushed forward as fast as he could. The two were pretty evenly matched, and Jack had to admit that it was a bit of a challenge to keep her from out flying him.

After their second lap, Jack noticed a couple of small groups had gathered on the ground or in the air near the center of the Quidditch pitch, and many of them were pointing at them. When they passed by the two black and white towers designated for the professors and commentators, he heard two Gryffindor's shouting out.

"You show him, Merida!" One of them jeered as the second whooped in agreement.

Jack glanced at the girl he was racing. He knew a lot of Slytherin's had a reputation for being blood-purists or bullies, and that the Gryffindor House didn't particularly like Slytherin's. But Jack wasn't looking for trouble, all he wanted to do was have some fun. Until now he had thought his opponent for the race had been looking for the same thing...

His thoughts must have been clear on his face because when the Gryffindor looked over at him with a big grin, she paused. Her expressions changed from happy to confused, then realization, and then she looked a little uncomfortable or unsure. After a moment, she smiled again.

"Let's give 'em something to look at, yeah?" She gave him a grin, and he returned it with a nod.

The two pushed forward as fast as they could go, showing off the best of their tricks as they sped past tower after tower, getting closer and closer to the imaginary finish line. They shared a determined glance, and then each of them struggled to pull just the slightest bit ahead of the other.

They shot past the tower just above Hiccup and Rapunzel, their unspoken finish line, and angled the brooms downward as they began to slow down. Jack was laughing, and the Gryffindor girl was grinning like mad. Once they were on the ground, the girl turned to him and offered her hand.

"You're pretty good... For a Slytherin." She added the last part with a wink to silently explain that it was a joke.

Jack smiled and shook her hand. "And you're pretty fast... For a Gryffindor." The girl laughed.

"The name's Merida Dunbroch." She introduced herself, and Jack smirked.

"Yeah, the princess with the crazy hair." He chuckled. Merida made a face and punched him in the shoulder. "Ow." Jack couldn't stop his snickering, though, so Merida knew it didn't actually hurt him.

"Don't call me that." She told him firmly.

"Call you what? Princess?" Jack looked at her innocently, and Merida snorted. "Okay, okay. I'm Jack Frost."

"Well, we should try to cross paths more often, Frost. That was a good race." Merida informed him.

"Agreed." Jack nodded.

"Merida! Jack!" The two first-years turned to look at the sudden voice and saw Rapunzel running towards them while dragging Hiccup behind her. "That was incredible!" She burst, breathing hard as she finally stopped in front of them. She let go of Hiccup's arm, and he began straightening his too-big robes as he tried to catch his breath.

"A little warning next time? You nearly ripped my arm out of it's socket." Hiccup sighed as he finished brushing off the dirt.

"Sorry, Hiccup." Rapunzel smiled apologetically. She then turned to Jack and Merida with an excited smile. "But that was really cool!"

"Thanks, Rapunzel." Merida smiled back at her, and Jack raised an eyebrow.

"You two know each other?" He asked. Merida rolled her eyes.

"You're not the only one with an inter-house friendship. You just happen to be weirdest. Besides, Rapunzel and I gotta stick together. You never know who actually wants to be your friend, and who is just using you because you're a princess." Merida crossed her arms, and Rapunzel giggled.

"I think people notice our friendship a little less because we're both princesses." Rapunzel added with a small shrug.

"What's that mean? People notice me and Hic hanging out?" Jack looked confused and the girls glanced at each other. Merida rolled her eyes, and Rapunzel just smiled kindly.

"It's nothing. Some of the older students just seem a little confused by how well you two get along, is all." Rapunzel told him.

"Sometimes I wonder the same thing." Hiccup smirked, but Jack lunged at him and caught Hiccup in a choke hold. Jack laughed as he gave Hiccup a proper noogie for his sarcastic remark, and Hiccup chuckled, too, as he struggled against Jack's arm.

"Hey, Merida!" The shout was loud enough to even get the boys to pause in their wrestling to look up at the new arrival that was walking towards them. She was a Gryffindor with thick, long blonde hair that she wore loose and pale blue eyes. She wore a Gryffindor Quidditch uniform. "That was some impressive flying a minute ago." She said, stopping in front of Merida.

"Thanks!" Merida beamed, her eyes shining excitedly.

"Yeah, Eep and I were talking, since she's going to be Quidditch captain next year, and we'd like to talk to you for a minute..." The girl gave a half-smile as Merida's eyes got even brighter and bigger.

"That's great!" She exclaimed before she collected herself and cleared her throat. "I mean, yes. I'd be happy to."

"Good." The upperclassman nodded. "Hi, Hiccup." She said, turning her gaze to the boys suddenly as she gave a small wave.

"Hi, Camicazi." Hiccup greeted in return as Jack released him from the choke hold.

"Wait, you two know each other?" Jack asked, raising one eyebrow. Hiccup shrugged a little uncomfortably.

"We've crossed paths before." He explained vaguely.

"Not so much recently, though. Good to know you're alive and well." Camicazi grinned, and Hiccup laughed nervously.

"Yeah, good to see you, too." He said, scratching his cheek with one finger.

"Anyways, Eep's waiting for us." Camicazi jerked her thumb over her shoulder, and Merida nodded in return.

"Let's go, then! Thanks for the race, Jack." Merida waved and she and Camicazi both turned and started to walk away, but Camicazi looked over her shoulder one last time.

"See you around, Hiccup." She smiled.

"Okay. Later, Cami." He smiled a small smile back.

The two Gryffindor's headed off towards a group of red and gold-clad students, and Jack, Hiccup, and Rapunzel were left to their own devices. Rapunzel squealed when the two Gryffindor's were out of hearing range and started talking about how excited Merida must be to have the future Quidditch captain asking to talk with her. The boys listened, nodding and agreeing and making comments of their own, as the three of them made their way towards the castle. Right before they left the Quidditch pitch, though, they heard a shout coming from somewhere to their left.

"Jack!" They looked to see Kenai, the Slytherin Quidditch captain. He was waving his arm over his head, motioning for Jack to come over, and Jack turned to his friends with a wide grin.

Rapunzel and Hiccup shared a look. Rapunzel looked even more excited, but Hiccup just rolled his eyes. "Well?" He demanded in a bored-sounding voice. "What are you waiting for? Get over there, already."

Jack bounced a little in his excitement, and then nodded. "Wish me luck!" He called over his shoulder, running to meet up with Kenai.

"Luck!" Rapunzel and Hiccup called out at the same time.


	6. Oddities, Study Groups, and Friendship

**Chapter 6: Oddities, Study Groups, and Friendship**

"Hi, guys!" Rapunzel's cheery voice cut into Jack's brooding over his Potions book. He and Hiccup both looked up from their work to see Rapunzel coming towards them with Merida at her side.

"Hey, haven't seen you two in a while!" Jack grinned, happy for any excuse to ignore his Potions book for just a few moments.

It had been two whole months since the race at the Quidditch pitch, and while Jack saw Rapunzel and Merida regularly because of classes, they hadn't seen each other much outside of the classroom. Except for Hiccup, of course, because he was still helping Rapunzel with Herbology, and he and Jack were together all the time.

"Hope you don't mind me joining you. Rapunzel told me you were gonna be studying, so I thought I'd start on my three-page paper for Charms." Merida said, scratching the back of her head.

"I totally forgot about that!" Jack exclaimed rather loudly as his hands shot up to grip his brown hair. He let his forehead fall onto the table with an audible thump, and Hiccup snorted.

"We don't mind. Besides, I'll be helping Rapunzel with Herbology, and Jack with his three-page paper for Charms as soon as he finishes his Potions homework." Hiccup informed her with a slight smirk.

"Then maybe you won't mind giving me a few pointers on the Astronomy homework Dr. Doppler assigned last week?" Merida's grin stretched all the way to her eyes.

Hiccup rolled his eyes, but nodded, and the girls pulled out chairs for themselves. They spent a good two hours doing nothing but studying, much to Jack's dismay, and they all managed to get the majority of their homework done. Finally, after she finished the last work sheet for Herbology, Rapunzel leaned back in her chair with a sigh, stretching her arms over her head.

"I think now is a good time for a break." Rapunzel commented, and Jack and Merida immediately dropped their quills onto their papers, slumping into their seats with loud groans.

"I think my brain is leaking out of my ears." Jack complained, staring blankly at the bookshelves behind him as he bent his upper back backwards over the top of his chair.

"Oh, come on." Hiccup said, peeking over the top of his own book. "You've only got a couple of History of Magic questions to answer and then you're completely done."

"Fine." Jack grumbled, throwing his head forward to glare down at the paper as he picked his quill back up and started scribbling things down.

"I don't think I've ever been this caught up with all my homework in the entire two and a half months I've been taking classes!" Merida stated with a content sigh.

"I think having a really smart tutor really helps with those kinds of things." Rapunzel giggled, and Hiccup blushed deeply at the compliment.

"Hey, don't compliment him too much." Jack cut in with a grin as he ruffled Hiccup's hair. "His head will start getting bigger."

"Oh, please." Hiccup muttered, shoving Jack's hand away and rolling his eyes as Jack snickered. Then he looked at the blue-eyed brunette and smirked. "The only top-heavy person around here is you."

Jack gasped dramatically, gripping his shirt around where his heart was, and threw one of his hands against his forehead. "You wound me, Hic." He blubbered as he fell off his chair and onto the floor of the library. Hiccup just laughed.

Rapunzel giggled, and Merida snorted, drawing the attention of both boys. "You two are so funny together." Rapunzel told them, and Hiccup and Jack looked at each other, confused.

"No offense, but you're just a really strange pair." Merida added with a small shrug. "I don't think anyone would've guessed a Ravenclaw and a Slytherin would be as good friends as you are."

"I don't get it. Why is it such a big deal that Hiccup and I are friends?" Jack wanted to know. Ignoring the strange looks he got in the Slytherin common room was starting to get harder.

"It's not a big deal." Rapunzel assured him. "It's just that inter-house friendships don't happen all that often, especially not friendships as strong as yours. A lot of the older students just seem to find it a little weird."

"It's nothing to worry about, but you can't honestly tell me you haven't noticed that no one else in the school has friendships outside their Houses." Merida remarked, arms crossed.

"Well, now that you mention it..." Hiccup muttered, sharing another look with Jack.

"But hold on!" Jack said, looking back at Rapunzel and Merida. "You two were friends before we met you. And all four of us are friends now, aren't we?"

"We've been over this. It's less weird for Rapunzel and I to be friends because we're both princesses. You two have almost nothing in common." Merida explained. "But I guess Rapunzel and I are a part of your weirdness now, so I won't let anyone talk bad about you two."

"Thanks...?" Hiccup offered weakly, one eyebrow arching in his confusion. "But as nice as that sounds, it's not like we'll get to see each other much outside of classes. Not while we're struggling with the homework load."

"We could form a study group." Rapunzel suggested, gaining everybody's attention. "You'll be tutoring me in Herbology anyways, Hiccup, and if Merida and Jack want to join us then we can all do our homework together. We might even get it done a lot faster by having all the extra help."

"That's not a bad idea." Jack grinned.

"An inter-House study group could be interesting. I say we give it a shot." Merida agreed. They all looked at Hiccup, who's expression was rather indifferent.

"Why not? I'm helping Rapunzel and Jack already." He shrugged, but a small smile slipped onto his face at the end that made the other three grin widely.

"We should talk to the librarian about reserving this table for our Study Group!" Rapunzel squealed excitedly.

"Good idea." Hiccup nodded, closing his book. "I doubt anyone uses this table much, but it'll be nice knowing that we always have our spot whenever we want it." He stood and started walking away.

"Wha? Hey, wait for us!" Jack called after him, stumbling a bit as he hurried to follow after the Ravenclaw. The girls shared a look, shrugged, and then followed.

"Where are we going?" Merida asked curiously as Hiccup lead them down the staircase to the first-floor of the library.

"To talk to the librarian." Hiccup said as if it were obvious. "He knows me, so it will only take a couple of minutes. Besides, we're taking a break and I wanted to stretch my legs a bit."

The four students walked up to the front counter, and Jack rang the little bell sitting there. The librarian appeared a moment later, his head sticking out of the door that lead to the back room, and he smiled when he saw them.

"Hiccup and Rapunzel, a pleasure to see you! And I do believe I've seen the two of you around before. What can I do for you children?" The man greeted them happily. He was an older man with a bald spot on the top of his head, but he still had hair around it. His were big and bushy, but they framed kind eyes that shimmered with a happy disposition, and a small beard grew from his pointed chin.

"Hello, Augustus." Rapunzel smiled as the old man set a stack of books he was carrying on the counter, and then turned to them with his full attention. "We were hoping to reserve a table for our study group."

"Oh, of course! Which table would you like?" Augustus grinned, pulling out a formal looking piece of paper with several blank lines and boxes drawn on it, and other writing that Jack couldn't quite read upside-down.

"The one Jack and I always use." Hiccup said, making a motion towards the tables general direction.

"A lovely spot indeed." Augustus nodded, jotting something down on the paper. "I assume you'll want it reserved all day. No one uses that table anyways, so it shouldn't be a problem." Augustus waved his hand as he thought out loud, and then jotted something else down on the paper. "Now I'll just need the members of your study group to sign their names on this line here." Augustus showed them the large space at the bottom of the paper, and handed them a quill. "Remember, you can always add people later."

Hiccup passed the quill and paper around, and the four of them signed their names. Once they finished, Augustus seemed satisfied with the paper, and pinned it to the board behind the counter in line with several other papers just like it.

"A student from each house. In all my years working here, I must admit that I've never seen such a thing." Augustus told them as he shifted around in the drawers of the counter. "I hope it goes well for you all." He smiled, handing them a small sign on a stand that had the word 'Reserved' printed on it in bold letters.

"Thanks!" Merida grinned as she took the offered item.

"This is gonna be great!" Jack beamed as they climbed the stairs to return to their table and their stuff. "I think we should celebrate!"

"We are not freezing -!" Hiccup began.

"I wasn't gonna say that!" Jack interrupted with his whine. Hiccup rolled his eyes.

"What would he want to freeze?" Rapunzel wondered quietly, giggling as Merida shrugged.

"Anything." Hiccup answered her dryly, shooting an equally dry look at Jack, who looked like the perfect picture of innocence.

"Anyways..." Merida caught their attentions. "I agree with Jack, we should do something fun."

"I think I've got just the thing." Rapunzel's eyes lit up with excitement, and the others perked up with interest.

* * *

The Great Hall was as bright and cheery as always with the floating candles casting a warm glow across the entire hall, and the colorful banners of each House hanging in mid-air above the proper table. The feast had started only a few moments ago, but after the first few weeks the dinner feast had become much less formal, and students would often come to dinner late from their studying or other activities.

However, there was one oddity among all of the very much segregated color schemes. At the very end of the table decorated with yellow and black, between the rest of the table and the dais, was a tiny splash of blue and bronze.

At first, it seemed as if the entire hall had stopped to stare at the strange occurrence, but then Rapunzel and Hiccup began talking about Herbology and study tactics as they ate, which seemed to calm some people, if only a little. The Gryffindors and Slytherins seemed to ignore them for the most part, but they did cast strange looks at the pair every now and then. The Ravenclaws seemed confused, some even looked offended, but Hiccup didn't appear to care much, and the Hufflepuffs simply stared at them for a long while before seemingly deciding to just ignore it. After all, the Ravenclaw was just helping Rapunzel with some homework, right?

Half an hour after the pair had sat down at the Hufflepuff table together, Jack and Merida burst into the room laughing and yelling. Merida had Jack's cloak, and dancing just out of his reach every time he lunged for it.

"Oh, come on!" Jack griped as Merida snorted with her laughing.

"What's the matter, Frost? I thought your reflexes were faster than that." Merida grinned mischievously as she finally allowed Jack to snatch back his cloak.

"Ha Ha, very funny." Jack said sardonically, but his cheerful smile that followed took all of the bite out of it.

Two Slytherins, Mavis and Wilbur from what Jack told them, entered the Great Hall after them looking incredibly confused alongside an equally as confused Gryffindor named Talia.

"Jack! Merida!" Rapunzel called, waving to them. The two looked over and smiled, offering some quick waves to their fellow House-mates, and then walking over to join Rapunzel and Hiccup.

"What took you guys so long?" Hiccup wanted to know as the other two members of their group started piling food onto their plates.

"Talia needed help with those Charms questions I asked about earlier, so I offered to help." Merida shrugged.

"Wilbur was gloating about how fast he was getting on his broom, so we had a race. We asked Mavis to be the judge." Jack replied, stretching his arms up and then resting them on the back of his head. "I won."

"Yeah, and then he gloating about it in the hallway, so I stole his cloak to shut him up." Merida added smugly, making Jack's face drop.

"That is totally different! I wasn't prepared, or expecting it, so it doesn't count." Jack told her.

"Does too!" Merida shot back.

"Does not!"

"Does too!"

"No it does not!"

"Yeah it does! Doesn't it?" Merida turned to Hiccup and Rapunzel. Rapunzel looked utterly distraught over who to side with, but Hiccup just gave Merida a mordant stare.

"Don't drag me into this." He deadpanned. Jack and Rapunzel laughed.

As the four continued on in their merriment, they didn't notice the strange looks they received from all of their fellow students, or the harsh whispers drifting around them. The teachers even noticed the normally strange behavior between the four, but they didn't say anything. Professor North even smiled.

Jack, Merida, Hiccup, and Rapunzel didn't notice any of it, and simply enjoyed their desserts as they laughed together.


	7. Wands, Bullies, and Nightmares

**Chapter 7: Wands, Bullies, and Nightmares**

"Eleven and a half inches." Jack stated, holding the pale colored wand sideways in both hands. "Cedar wood with a Phoenix feather core." He decided, running his thumb over the small bit of designs on the handle.

"Wow." Rapunzel breathed, watching him with wide eyes. "What does it mean?"

"Cedar wands traditionally choose a carrier that shows strength in character and great loyalty. Ollivander says they also tend towards carriers that would be frightening adversaries, especially if the carrier's loved ones are in danger." Jack told her. "Phoenix feather cores are pretty rare, and they're not easy to handle. You have to work hard to gain the wands allegiance, but you seem to have it already." Rapunzel grinned brightly as Jack returned her wand to her.

"Alright, smart guy." Merida said. "Try mine." She pulled her wand out from her robes and flipped it in one hand to give Jack the handle. Jack chuckled and accepted Merida's.

Jack pursed his lips as his eyes took in the sight of the slightly darker wood. While it was a darker shade than Rapunzel's, it was still one of the paler woods, and the designs were finished differently to make the wood lighter in those areas.

"Twelve inches." Jack nodded. "Cypress and a Dragon Heartstring core."

"Impressive." Merida smirked. "Well, go on! What does my wand tell you?"

"Valour. Cypress wands choose carriers that are brave, bold, and self-sacrificing. Ollivander said that back when he was an apprentice there was a lot of war going on everywhere. His master was always incredibly honored to match a Cypress wand with a carrier because he knew he was meeting a witch or wizard who would die a heroic death." Jack informed them. "Of course, nowadays you probably don't have to worry about laying down your life for anyone any time soon." Jack pointed out.

"That sounds about right." Merida preened slightly as she nodded to Jack to continue.

"Dragon Heartstrings produce wands with a lot of power. Dragon wands tend to learn faster than any other type, and they bond strongly with their carrier. They can be a bit temperamental, though, which makes it more accident prone when compared to other wands." Jack noted, looking at the wand from a few more angles before handing it back to Merida.

"That's amazing!" Rapunzel's eyes shone like stars as she looked down at her wand in wonder. "What about your staff? What's made of?"

"Dogwood and Unicorn hair." Jack answered. "Dogwood is playful and mischievous, so it prefers carriers that are exciting and fun. Unicorn cores have the most consistent magic, and they aren't easily turned to the Dark Arts."

"I never knew wands were so complex." Rapunzel said, still holding her wand and looking at it in wonder and admiration.

"Yeah...My dad was better at this than me, though. He could tell you your wand's personality, and how strong your bond with it is, and a whole bunch of other stuff, too." Jack remarked, but his eyes were focused on the stairs through the gaps of the bookshelves.

"What's the matter?" Merida wanted to know. "You've been staring at the stairs for a good five minutes straight, now."

"Huh? Oh... Well." Jack looked a little embarrassed, but then sighed. "It's Hiccup. Classes ended a good half hour ago, and he's usually already here when I come in, so I was just wondering what's taking so long..."

"Hiccup said he forgot one of his books in the Ravenclaw tower, so he left to go get it right after Charms." Rapunzel spoke up. "But you're right; that was a while ago..."

"Maybe we should go find him. He could have gotten lost on the moving staircases, or something." Jack suggested, rising from his seat as his eyes flashed towards the stairs again.

Merida nodded and stood up. "Let's go, then, and make sure he's all right."

The three companions gathered their things and quickly made their way out of the library. Having no idea where the door to the Ravenclaw common rooms were, they simply started for the West side of the castle where the Ravenclaw tower was said to be. They didn't make it very far, though, because when they reached the nearest staircase leading away from the library, they heard a thump and a yelp.

Jack looked at the girls, and Merida was looking sharply at the shadows beneath the stairs with narrowed brows while Rapunzel's gaze darted from the stairs to him to Merida and back again. Nudging Merida's shoulder quietly, Jack motioned towards the stairs with his head, and Merida nodded as Rapunzel drew her wand.

The three of them crept forward until they could see what was happening behind the staircase, and there, in the shadows, was Hiccup. Another student had him by his shirt, and had shoved him against the wall. Hiccup's face was twisted into a grimace as he wriggled against the fist that held him in place, but the other student just laughed with the girl that was standing next to him.

Jack had no idea who the girl was, but he knew the boy holding Hiccup. He was a Slytherin known as Daren Fouls. His family was a bunch of blood-purists, and he used to give Mavis a hard time for being a vampire before Jack had stepped in and threatened to freeze him to the inside of a bathroom stall. After all, Mavis was a decent sort and a fellow wilder-creature, so Jack had felt that what he'd done was necessary.

But now Fouls was after Hiccup, and it made Jack's blood boil. One look at Merida told him that she felt the same way, and Rapunzel looked appalled by the scene before her.  
"What's the matter loser?" Daren sneered, lifting Hiccup off his feet by his shirt. "Can't do anything without this, can you?" Daren held up Hiccup's wand in his other hand, and then threw Hiccup to the ground.

"So pathetic." The girl sighed. "Without a wand the teacher's pet becomes a useless little nobody."

"HEY!" Jack shouted, and both of the bullies whipped around to face him. "What do you think you're doing to Hiccup?" Jack demanded.

"None of your business, Frost!" Daren spat as Jack's eyes flared angrily.

"Give Hiccup back his wand, right now!" Merida barked. "Or I'll -"

"You'll what?" The girl, who Jack could now see was wearing Gryffindor robes, asked mockingly. "Use your pretty princess tiara to get us in trouble?" She gave a pout and Merida outright growled.

"Why you little twit!" Merida shouted, rolling up her sleeve as she stomped forward.

Hiccup got to his feet, rubbing his shoulder. "Uh, guys -"

"Shut up, nerd!" Darn snapped, shoving Hiccup again, which made Hiccup trip over his too-long robes and fall back onto the ground hard. Then Jack was suddenly there, he drew back his fist and punched Fouls right in the nose.

The larger first-year dropped Hiccup's wand in favor of grabbing a hold of his throbbing nose, and Rapunzel dove quickly, scooping up the wand in both hands. She made to slip passed Jack and the bully, so she could get to Hiccup, but the Gryffindor girl grabbed her braid and yanked on it, making Rapunzel yelp in pain.

"Flipendo!" Merida ran forward and flicked her wand towards the girl, knocking her away from Rapunzel with the jinx, but the girl didn't let go of Rapunzel's hair so they both ended up on the floor.

As Merida ran over to help Rapunzel, Jack continued in his fist fight with Daren. Fouls was bigger, but Jack was faster and could dodge most of the brutes attacks, so Fouls got frustrated fairly quickly and pulled out his own wand.

"Vermillious -Gah!" Daren's wand was knocked from his hand as Hiccup jumped onto his back in his attempt to stop the bully from using the charm.

"Get off, you little...!" Fouls growled as he tried to reach back and pry Hiccup off, but Hiccup managed to keep holding on somehow.

"Hiccup, look out!" Jack's warned, but he was too late. Fouls slammed Hiccup against the wall with his back, and Hiccup's head hit the stone with an audible crack.

Hiccup slumped to the ground with a groan, and grabbed the back of his head with both hands. Jack's normally happy and smiling eyes turned to slits as he ran straight at Fouls, and tackled him so hard they both landed out in the middle of the hallway, alerting students passing by of the fight that was happening.

Jack swung his fist back, gripping Daren's shirt tightly in his other hand, and punched him right in the face for the second time. And a th-!

"Let go of me!" Jack struggled against the arms that suddenly jerked him away from Fouls. He kicked and swung wildly, all the while glaring at the bully. "You stay away from my brother! You hear me? Leave Hiccup alone!" Jack shouted.

"If I catch you picking on him again, I'll kick your arse!" Merida agreed as she was dragged away from the other Gryffindor girl by Mr. Crood.

"All right, all right!" Professor Bunnymund yelled over Merida and Jack's furious yelling, finally managing to push the first-year back long enough to calm him down a little. "That's enough."

Only when Bunnymund set Jack back on his feet and place himself between Jack and Daren, did Jack stop glaring at Daren long enough to look at who was talking to him and realize what said person had just said to him.

Jack grimaced and looked at his feet, but then he noticed the commotion that had gathered. Several professors had gone under the stairs and pulled the girls apart, and Professor Toothiana fluttered worriedly by Hiccup as she gently examined the back of his head.

"What happened here?" A familiar voice suddenly demanded, and Jack cringed when his eyes caught sight of Deputy Headmaster, Professor North.

"Professor!" The Gryffindor girl cried out before anyone else could speak. "It was simply awful! Daren and I were exchanging our notes for Charms class in the library, but then these four started harassing us! When we tried to leave they followed us and then used the Knock-back Jink to push us underneath the staircase, so no one would see them attacking us!" The girl sniffed as if she had been crying, and Jack felt the urge to punch something again.

"That's not true!" Merida declared, outraged. "These two bullies were picking on Hiccup back there in the shadows like a bunch of cowards! We were just trying to get Hiccup's wand back."

"Did anyone else see how this all started?" Professor North wanted to know, looking around the crowd that had gathered for anyone who might have seen something. No one volunteered. Professor North sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose with both hands. "None of you can prove what you have told me, so you will all serve detention." They all gaped, groaned, and tried to protest, but Professor North stopped them with one raised finger. "Whether your stories are true or not, the school does not tolerate violence. If someone was guilty of bullying then you should have found a Professor or student Prefect to help. I am sorry, but I must follow school rules. You will all report to Mr. Crood tomorrow night for detention."

With that, the Deputy Headmaster turned and started walking away. Professor Bunnymund hesitated, looking at Jack and Daren, but then glanced over Jack's head for just a moment and went forward anyways, leaving the other Professors to handle them. "North, wait for a minute, would you?"

Jack turned to see what the Professor had been looking at, and found Hiccup trying to convince Professor Toothiana that he was fine. Jack walked over to them, throwing a glance over his shoulder to see Professor Lorax and Captain Amelia leading Daren and the Gryffindor girl away.

"Are you sure you don't want Dr. Sweet to take a look at your head?" Professor Toothiana was checking one last time as Jack, Merida, and Rapunzel joined their friend. "You are perfectly welcome at the hospital wing."

"I'm fine, Professor. I don't even have a concussion." Hiccup responded reasonably.

"Well, all right. But make sure you stop by if you start feeling nauseous or dizzy." Toothiana told him, and Hiccup nodded as she and the other Professors left them to their own devices.

"Are you sure, Hiccup?" Rapunzel asked quietly, her entire being radiating worry.

"I'm sure. I promise, I'm okay." Hiccup assured them.

"Here's your wand, Hiccup." Merida held out the precious wood to him, and Hiccup took it gratefully.

"Thanks." He mumbled, tucking the wand back safely into his too-big robes.

"How long have those two been picking on you?" Jack wanted to know. He didn't like the idea that this had been happening for a long time without him knowing. "Why didn't you tell us about it?"

"Because I knew you'd react like this!" Hiccup blurted out, looking more than a little guilty. "Now you're all in trouble, and it's all my fault." He hung his head and his shoulders slumped forward, which made Jack even angrier.

"You know, for a Ravenclaw, you're pretty stupid." Jack stated bluntly, getting a gasp of disapproval from Rapunzel and a wide-eyed stare from Merida. Hiccup's head snapped up, and he looked very confused and a little hurt. "If I didn't want to risk getting in trouble then I would have stayed out of it. But you're my best friend, Hiccup. Our, friend." Jack added, nodding to Rapunzel and Merida. "And friends stick together, no matter what."

"Jack's right." Rapunzel agreed. "Friends fight for each other."

"Yeah, if someone's messing with one of us then they're messing with all of us!" Merida punched Hiccup lightly in the shoulder, and he rubbed his arm.

"I'm just not used to people wanting to fight for me, I guess." Hiccup muttered. "Thanks, guys."

Hiccup gave a small yelp as Jack, Merida, and Rapunzel lunged at him with a surprise group-hug.

* * *

Later that night, Jack was laying on his bed and staring at the picture of him and his dad. He knew Hiccup was shy and didn't want to bother other people with his problems, but it still bothered him that his best friend had been being bullied and he didn't know a thing about it.

Some of the other Slytherins weren't too happy about Jack's fight with Daren, especially because he was defending someone outside of their House, but Jack just told them to back off and then ignored them. For the most part, they had done what Jack told them to do, but they still gave him disapproving looks when he entered the common room after spending all of dinner at the Ravenclaw table with Rapunzel, Hiccup, and Merida.

"You look like a six year old on a time out." Drawled a voice, making Jack sit up and look towards its source. "What's going on, first year?"

Flynn Rider. A second year student who was fairly decent. He was always looking for ways to make a profit: making bets, starting betting pools, sneaking around, eavesdropping, trading things for favors. If anyone needed to know anything, they could go to Flynn Rider, and they'd be able to get the information they wanted, but it would come at a cost.

"Nothing." Jack muttered, looking away from the older student.

"Oh, come on! Don't you trust me?" Flynn grinned, holding his hands open innocently. Jack's only reply was a look, and Rider dropped the act. "Ouch. Anyways, I just thought I'd come and see if you were still alive. Some of those guys out there are pretty upset about your nerd friend." Flynn informed him.

"His name is Hiccup, and Daren was just being a bully." Jack retorted, and Flynn put his hands up in a surrendering motion.

"Whoa, easy there! I never said I agreed with them." Flynn reminded him. "In fact, you and your misfit friends are a pretty amusing bunch. Your little group is all anyone has been talking about lately."

"I'm so utterly happy that we could entertain you." Jack growled, flopping back onto his bed as Flynn leaned against one of the posts.

"There is just no pleasing you, is there?" Flynn sighed. "Fine. But I'd be careful where I step if I were you. I hear some of the students from the other Houses are just as worried about the loyalty you guys have for your Houses as Daren and most of Slytherin is."

With that, Flynn left Jack to himself. Jack rolled onto his side, glancing at his picture, and then sighed. He reached up and blew out the candle on his nightstand before laying back down and pulling the covers over himself.

All that night Jack had nightmares about Rapunzel, Merida, Hiccup, and him losing their friendship, and there was nothing he could do to fix it...


	8. Moving Shadows

**Chapter 8: Moving Shadows**

As the evening grew darker the next day, the four made their way down the sloping hill towards the small hut where the Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts, Mr. Crood, stayed. He was standing outside his home with Professor North, Daren Fouls, and the Gryffindor girl who Merida told them was Gabby Numeral.

The two bullies glared at them sourly as they approached, and Jack glared right back at them with Merida backing him up. Even Rapunzel walked a little straighter when she saw them. But before anything could be said between the six students, Professor North quickly called their attention to himself and the Grounds Keeper.

"Children, this is Mr. Crood. You will be helping him with a rather strenuous task in the Forbidden Forest." North told them, making them all gap or shrink away from the looming trees.

"But it's dangerous in there!" Gabby protested. "And it's forbidden for students to enter!"

"Only without a teacher to escort them." Mr. Crood interjected. "I've been in the forest plenty of times, and I know my way about. You'll be fine so long as you do what you're told."

"I will leave you to it then." North nodded to Mr. Crood and fixed the students with a stern look that ordered them to behave before departing back towards the castle.

"All right, time to go over the rule!" Mr. Crood announced as he turned to face them. Jack exchanged uncertain glances with Rapunzel, Merida, and Hiccup as Gabby and Daren continued to scowl. "It's really very simple, and it will keep you alive while we're in the Dark Forest: Never not be afraid!" The children stared at him with wide eyes as he nodded in satisfactory. "Good, just like that! Now stay close and follow me."

Mr. Crood picked up a lantern and started walking into the forest. Jack glanced at the others again before slowly following after the very large man. Eventually they set a comfortable pace not going too fast, but also not going too slow. Mr. Crood walked at the very front with Daren and Gabby right behind him while Jack, Merida, Hiccup, and Rapunzel stayed in a clump close behind.

"There have been some strange disturbances in the past couple of weeks that has the Headmaster worried, so he's asked me to keep a closer eye on things. So far I haven't found much, but last week I found a unicorn with an injured leg. I managed to heal it, but I've seen other creatures in the forest with the same kinds of wounds, which means something is attacking the resident species of the Dark Forest." Mr. Crood told them. "Tonight we're going to patrol and see what we can find."

"This is too dangerous for a student to be doing!" Gabby griped. "My father will hear about this!"

"Oh, get over it! The sooner you stop complaining, the sooner we can all finish our job and go back to our dorms!" Merida snapped.

"And why should I listen to you, traitor?" Gabby whirled around and spat a Merida, who reeled angrily.

"Listen here, you pig-headed, arrogant -!" Merida gritted her teeth as she rolled up her sleeve.

"That's enough!" Mr. Crood interrupted. "The Forest isn't safe. You kids fighting will only attract dangerous animals."

The two girls fell silent, but sent each other glares and sneers, so Hiccup gently pushed Merida towards the edge of the path so he could walk in the middle between the two groups. Jack and Merida were stiff and irritable while walking, and Rapunzel was stiff too, but that was more out of fear than anything else. As the sounds of the forest at night seemed to get louder in the silence, Gabby and Daren got too scared to cause any trouble. The only one not bothered by the forest was Hiccup. Even Mr. Crood was on edge.

A bush a few feet away suddenly rustled, and Rapunzel leaped away with a yelp. "What was that?" She cried, gripping Hiccup's arm tightly.

"Rapunzel, I think you're cutting off the circulation in my arm!" Hiccup tried to point out, but Rapunzel yelped again when a bat flew out of the same bush and into the air.

"Relax, Punzie." Jack smiled. "It was just a bat."

Rapunzel loosened her grip on Hiccup's arm and tilted her head curiously. "Punzie?"

"Just a nickname. I won't use it if you don't like it." Jack shrugged, and Rapunzel shook her head.

"No, it's fine. I've never really had a nickname before." She admitted.

"Come on now, keep up!" Mr. Crood called from a few feet ahead. "We're half way done." He told them when they had caught up. "This is as deep as we'll go in the forest. The rest hasn't been cleared by teachers, so my rounds end here. Now we'll follow this path and it will loop us around back to my hut." He explained, pointing out the well walked path.

"Finally! It's freezing out here, and my shoes are practically ruined!" Daren complained, stomping passed Mr. Crood to lead the way down the path. Gabby followed with a similar huff, but Mr. Crood rolled his eyes and leaned towards Jack.

"I don't blame you for punching that one." He muttered quietly, and Jack grinned.

"Thanks. It felt good." He confided, making Mr. Crood snort with laughter just a little bit before he composed himself.

"Right, ladies first." Mr. Crood nodded his head, and Rapunzel and Merida both hurriedly along with Jack and Hiccup following behind.

Daren wasn't completely wrong, though. It was rather cold, and while it didn't bother Jack, he could see Rapunzel and Merida shivering as the wind started to pick up more. Winter was finally upon them, and the whole school was expecting to see snow any day now. As the cold set in around them, the forest seemed to get even darker than before, making them subconsciously stay closer together.

Suddenly, Hiccup stopped, looking around at the darkness with green eyes. Jack looked at him curiously and walked over, but before Jack could say something to alert Hiccup that he was right behind him, Hiccup spoke. "Did you hear that?" He turned his head slightly, indicating that he was talking to Jack.

"Hear what?" Jack asked, confused. Hiccup was acting strange. He normally wasn't so jumpy, being the calm one of their group.

"Nothing, I guess." Hiccup shrugged, and the two turned away to keep walking.

Before they could even take two steps, a shriek came from one of the others who were not too far ahead. Something sped past Jack, and his head snapped around trying to follow it, but it was too fast to see.

"What is that thing?" Jack asked.

"I don't know." Hiccup replied, his eyes darting this way and that.

"Quick, this way!" Mr. Crood shouted at them, pushing them further down the path. Daren and Gabby sprinted away screaming, and Mr. Crood continued to rush Jack and the others. "Hurry!" He urged them.

They looked at the Grounds Keeper worriedly, but then ran into the trees, following the path as closely as they possibly could in the pitch blackness. There was some sort of shrieking noise that rang in their ears, and more black figures shot passed them from all sides.

They all skidded to a halt, and Rapunzel cried out a little, when one of the shadowy figures blocked the path, rearing on it's hind legs and kicking out at them. All four of them froze in terror as a black horse with sinister yellow eyes dropped to all fours in front of them, kicking up dirt with it's front hooves before charging at them.

"Watch out!" Merida shouted as she dodged to the side.

"Get down!" Jack threw himself into the bushes on one side of the path, and Hiccup and Rapunzel both dove out of the way as well.

The creature ran passed them, skidding to a halt a few feet away. Jack was the first to scramble back onto his feet on the path, and the others were close behind as they all looked back to see what had become of the horse creature.

"Run!" Hiccup yelled when they saw the horse was turning around and bucking with anticipation. They started running as fast as they could, but they could still hear the hooves of the shadow creature pounding on the forest floor behind them. Things went from bad to worse when Merida, who was at the front of their group, tripped over a root of a tree sticking out of the ground. Then Hiccup tripped on the same root, and Rapunzel and Jack tripped on Merida and Hiccup's flailing limbs.

They went down in a heap, and when they finally untangled themselves enough to lay on their backs side by side across the path, they were looking back at the shadow horse that was practically right on top of them. It stopped not inches from them, nearly crushing their feet with it's hooves, and reared again. It's dark and menacing looking hooves glinted in the moonlight, threatening to drop on their stomachs.

Thankfully, before the horse could stomp on them, a large stone slammed into it. The horse broke apart like smoke, so the stone passed through it instead of killing it, and when the horse recollected itself, it stood at the children's feet. It turned it's back to see what had thrown the stone at it from behind, and there was Mr. Crood holding another rock.

Mr. Crood let out a big roar and threw the rock at the horse, causing it to leap away and shrieked at him with a ghostly whiny. Mr. Crood roared again in reply, and the horse backed away, turning tail and running into the forest.

Jack jumped to his feet and helped the others up as Mr. Crood rushed to their sides. "Are you kids alright? Is anyone hurt?" He asked.

"We're fine." Merida replied after catching her breath.

"Yeah, we're okay." Rapunzel nodded, her voice shaking. Hiccup patted her shoulder comfortingly.

"Just a little shaken." Jack added.

"We need to get back to the castle immediately." Mr. Crood told them. "Follow me and stay close!" He ordered.

It didn't take terribly long for them to reach Mr. Crood's hut, and when they got there they found Daren and Gabby standing around with several of the Professors. The first thing did was march right up to Prof. North and exchange some muttered words that none of the children could hear.

As Mr. Crood spoke to him, Prof. North's eyes widened, and he frowned deeply. After just a few seconds of listening to Mr. Crood, the Deputy Headmaster sent all of the children away, assigning Toothiana the task of escorting them back to the castle and making sure they went straight to bed.

Despite their protests, the four friends were shooed away alongside Daren and Gabby by the bustling, worrying fairy. When they reach the castle, they were forced to say there goodnights and go their separate ways for the evening because, Toothiana reminded them, the only reason they were allowed out of their dorms passed curfew was because of their punishment. Now their detention was over, and the attack from the horse in the Forbidden Forest had obviously upset all of the teachers.

But the question still remained: Why?


	9. A Holly Jolly Christmas

**Chapter 9: A Holly Jolly Christmas**

It was mid-December, and snow blanketed everything within the eye's reach. The sun managed to shine through some of the clouds that covered the sky, and the light made the snow sparkle brightly. It had been a few days since the attack in the Forest, and the teachers hadn't told them much after making sure that all of them were okay. Jack wondered if they were keeping them in the dark on purpose, but after being shooed away several times he gave up on questioning the teachers.

With an entire weekend to study for the upcoming exams, and some freshly fallen snow covering the school grounds, Jack, Merida, Rapunzel, and Hiccup all decided to take a break from studying that Friday and enjoy the winter weather.

The four of them were walking through one of the small courtyards in the middle of the castle and stopped to sit on the stone bench. Merida reclined on the bench with Rapunzel, and Jack hopped up onto on of the lower branches of the tree right next to the bench while Hiccup leaned back against the trunk.

"I'm telling you guys, something just doesn't seem right." Jack sighed deeply, letting his legs dangle as he sat on the branch.

"Well I don't see how things can be 'right' when you're practically in your undies in the snow!" Merida retorted, her arms crossed tightly over her chest to retain warmth. Jack rolled his eyes.

"That's not what I meant, and I am not in my underwear!" He countered indignantly. While his friends wore their uniforms with their winter cloaks, scarves, and warm vests, Jack still wore his lighter clothes with just a shirt, his regular cloak, and his tie undone around his neck.

"Jack, you really should at least put on your scarf." Rapunzel chastised. "You'll catch a cold if you don't keep warm."

"Is it even possible for you to catch colds?" Hiccup asked, looking up to peer at Jack questioningly. Jack thought for a moment and, coming up with no definite answer, shrugged.

"What's that supposed to mean? Everyone catches colds!" Merida said, raising an eyebrow at the boys.

"Guys!" Jack whined. "We're getting off track!"

Hiccup sighed and snapped the small book that he held in his left hand closed as his right hand moved his robes so he could tuck his book safely in the inside pocket. "Jack's right. Whatever that thing in the Forbidden Forest was, it isn't supposed to be there."

Rapunzel nodded. "And the teachers don't want anyone knowing."

"Aye." Merida agreed. "Prof. North seemed pretty worried when Mr. Crood talked to him after we got back."

"And then we were rushed off to bed before we could ask any questions about that creature." Hiccup pointed out.

"That's exactly what I've been thinking." Jack nodded at his three friends.

Silence enveloped the courtyard as they all fell into their own thoughts. The teachers had made it quite clear that they weren't going to answer any of the students questions, and Prof. Lorax had been very stern the last time Jack had asked about the incident in the woods: matters concerning the Forbidden Forest were to be left to the Hogwarts Professors. None of the adults wanted the students to know what was going on. Perhaps it was to avoid spreading panic through the school, or maybe there was something deeper to it, but whatever it was, it wasn't good.

"We could get in trouble." Rapunzel noted with a rather neutral expression. "If we get caught, I mean."

"Maybe." Hiccup admitted with a shrug.

"I think whatever is going on is a bit bigger than a few months detention." Jack added, and Rapunzel grinned.

"As long as we stick together we'll be fine." Merida declared confidently. "We're stronger as a team. There's nothing we can't do."

"Merida's right!" Jack beamed, jumping down from his tree branch. "I bet with the four of us working together solving this weird mystery will be a lot of fun!"

"I wouldn't go that far." Hiccup said rationally. "But, yeah, you guys make a good point."

"So what are we going to do first?" Rapunzel stood up as she looked at the others excitedly.

* * *

Two weeks later mid-term exams were finally over, and the four days students had to prepare for the train ride home flew by as the winter holidays approached. While some students decided to stay at Hogwarts for the winter break for various different reasons, Jack and the others were all going home and they boarded the train together.

"So we're all clear on the plan, then?" Merida asked after closing the door to their compartment. She flopped onto the seat next to Rapunzel, and everyone nodded.

"The only lead we have in this mystery right now is that horse creature." Jack reminded her, rolling his eyes a little, which made Merida snort.

"My parents have a pretty big library, so I'll look for it in there. It's not unusual for me to spend a lot of time in there anyways." Rapunzel smiled.

"I don't have access to a good library, but I know of a few books back home that might have something." Hiccup said thoughtfully.

"If I ask my mum about books, she'll freak out and give me enough reading to keep me in my room the whole break." Merida told them. "But I'll see what I can dig up on my own. Dad likes old legends, so maybe he'll have a story that could be useful."

"Yeah, I'll look in the attic for one of my dad's old journal." Jack agreed. "He might have encountered something like that horse during one of his assignments as an Auror. With any luck he'll have some notes on it."

"At least we all have an idea of where to start looking. Remember everything you find, and when we come back from break we can talk on the train ride to the school." Hiccup finalized and the others agreed.

For the rest of the train ride they turned to lighter conversations about pending grades, pranks Jack and Hiccup had pulled and were planning, and inside jokes they'd created in their circle. When the conversation lead to what everyone was doing for the holidays, there were varied levels of excitement to say the least. Hiccup shrugged, saying his father would probably have work to do at home and the holidays would end up being quiet and uneventful as always. Rapunzel told them about the tree lighting tradition Corona held in the Capital's main square that she would be attending with her parents. Merida laughed when she spoke about her 'wee devils' of brothers being as sneaky as ever, and her father's terrible singing. Jack said he would be going caroling with his mother and sister as he did every year, and then they would spend Christmas at home together, eating food and unwrapping gifts.

When the train pulled into the station and stopped, the four of them looked out the window for a moment without moving. It seemed strange to them to be leaving and not spending the holidays together. Rapunzel offered a weak smile, which the others returned, and then they all began to shuffle around their compartment.

The goodbyes were strangely quiet because none of them were sure what to say or do. It ended with Jack initiating a big group hug, and they all laughed together as they said some rather simple goodbyes with an unspoken message of assurance that told each of them that winter break was only two weeks and they would be together again soon.

Rapunzel left the train station in a carriage, and so did Merida. Hiccup disappeared into the crowd, saying that his way home was waiting for him by a restaurant connected to the train station.

"I guess it's just you and me now, Nix." Jack smiled at his snowy owl, who sat in her cage and cooed at him quietly. Jack chuckled and began pushing his trolley towards the fourth pillar from the entryway. Sure enough, his mother and sister were waiting for him there with bright smiles and loving hugs to give.

Emma exploded with questions about Hogwarts, Jack's friends, his classes, and his House. She wanted to know everything about the school, and Jack's mother managed to calm her down a little by suggesting they get Jack home so he could get settled before answering all of her questions. Emma agreed and took Jack's hand as she began skipping towards the exit with Jack and their mother following.

After a few days of being home Jack decided it was time to start searching for answers. He waited until his mother went out to get some things for dinner, taking his little sister with her because Emma wanted to look at the familiar's in the pet shop.

Jack pushed up on the rough, unfinished wood, and the door to the attic opened with only a little resistance. The attic was full of dust, and it made Jack sneeze as he looked around for the few things they had left of his father. Eventually he managed to find a big, old trunk with a tag on it that read: Percy F.

Jack knelt in front of the trunk and undid the latch that kept it closed. When he opened the trunk, Jack's breath caught in his throat. The inside of the trunk smelt of spices and pine trees, a smell Jack had always associated with his father. Some of his dad's clothes were in that trunk along with a very old and folded picture of their family when Emma was still just a baby, a small wood carving kit, a few rare stones, and a leather bound notebook.

Jack smiled and carefully picked up the black leather journal. It was a small book, but fairly thick, and it had a thin leather cord that wrapped around the width of the notebook to keep it closed. The pages had yellowed a bit over time, but after very gently opening it to the first page, Jack found the writing to be completely legible.

_October 16th, 10:00pm_

_My name is Percy Overland Frost. Thirty-five years in age. Six feet and four inches in height. Occupation: Auror. I am keeping this log journal because my superior, Captain Hua Hu, says my reports have less than satisfactory, and he has all but ordered me to do some memorization drills. But I suppose that's my fault for slacking off..._

_Anyways, my beautiful wife and I spent the day preparing to be parents. It might sound a bit obsessive considering the baby isn't due for another two months at least, but we're both excited for the little one. We've decided that if the baby's a girl we're going to name her Emma, but we're still having some trouble with a boys name..._

Jack stopped reading a flipped ahead a couple of pages until he stopped on a specific date.

_December 27th, 11:22pm_

_I became a father today. I still can't seem to wrap my mind around that. It only took us a few minutes after he was born to come up with a name for him; Jackson. Jackson Overland Frost. There's not a doubt in my mind that he is the greatest thing that has ever happened to me..._

Again, Jack stopped reading, but this time it was for a different reason. He blinked several times to ease the swelling feeling, and decided it would be best if he stayed on track, so he skipped ahead to some of the pages that had notes and extra papers sticking out.

It took nearly two hours of reading through all of his dad's notes and reports and journal entries, but eventually Jack managed to find something that he thought might be useful to him and his friends. He placed all of his father's things back in the trunk, exactly how he had found it, except for the journal, which he took with him. He placed the journal carefully inside of his trunk, and made sure it was completely safe and out of sight.

His mother and sister returned almost as soon as he had tucked the book away, and they distracted Jack from his serious thoughts with happy ones and the promise of a hot meal for dinner. That night, while eating dinner with his family, Jack decided he would spend the rest of the winter break enjoying the holidays with his mother and sister instead of worrying about too much about something that would have to wait until he could see his friends again anyways.

But despite Jack's decision to relax, he couldn't help himself later that night when he reached for his father's journal and started reading. The journal entries were as amazing as his father's stories had been, and reading the book made Jack feel closer to his father... And so it was that Jack read from his father's journal every night after his family had gone to sleep, holding on tight to the feeling that his father was still close to him, even if Jack couldn't see him.

One morning came extremely early when Jack woke to his little sister shaking him awake. It was still dark out, but the siblings grinned at each other without a word and leaped off of Jack's bed, running for their living room. The large, five-foot tree was glowing with tiny candles that were hung and lit by magic, and colorfully wrapped packages of every shape and size sat beneath the branches of the noble pine.

The siblings looked at each other again, and then ran to their mother's room. Bursting through the door, they jumped onto the bed, exclaiming that there were presents to be opened and a delicious pancake breakfast to make together. Their mother laughed at her children's antics, and she snatched them up into tight hugs. Emma shrieked and giggled, wriggling out of their mother's hold to bounce excitedly by the door.

"Alright! I'm coming." Their mother said, getting out of bed to follow her cheering little children to the Christmas tree. Together, the family of three sorted all of the gifts into three different piles until all of the gifts had found a pile to be placed in.

First their mother opened the gifts from family friends that were meant for the whole family. Most of them were food. Then Jack, being the oldest, was allowed to choose one present to open first. He decided to open Hiccup's gift first because he was most excited to see what his friends had gotten him. Hiccup's gift was a giant box of Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans, Jack's favorite candy, which made Jack smile because he had given Hiccup a box of Cauldron Cakes, Hiccup's favorite. Hiccup would do anything for a Cauldron Cake.

After Jack opened Hiccup's gift, it was Emma's turn. She decided to open the present Jack had gotten for her, and she gasped in excitement when she saw it. Jack had gotten her a small necklace made of black, leather string and a charm Jack had made himself with some wire and a small piece of purple quartz.

After that they were free to rip open the rest of their gifts as the sun slower climbed above the horizon and peeked in through the window. Merida had given Jack a pair of fuzzy, gray gloves with a note that said: "Put some clothes on, Frostbite". Jack had laughed and set it aside so he could open Rapunzel's gift: A homemade, knitted scarf in his House colors and a gold "J" on both ends.

The Frost family spent all of Christmas day laughing together, eating lots of food, and having fun with the gifts they'd been given. Jack was thankful to have such a wonderful family to come home to, and he didn't have a single nightmare the entire winter break, but on the evening before the Hogwarts Express was to go back to the school Jack found himself happy to be going back because he had missed his friends over the holidays.


	10. Castle of Secrets

**Chapter 10: Castle of Secrets**

The bright red engine of the Hogwarts Express gave off a shrill call to announce that it would be departing very soon. Jack was loading his trunk into the storage compartment of the train while also trying to look around to find his friends. He hadn't seen any of them since he arrived nearly twenty minutes ago, and he could only hope that they wouldn't miss the train.

With the help of his mother, Jack finally got his trunk into the storage compartment, and at the same moment his fears were relieved by a very familiar voice calling for him.

"Jack!" Merida struggled through the crowds of students and their families until she stood right in front of Jack, trying to catch her breath. "There you are!" She finally huffed. "We've been lookin' everywhere for you! Hiccup and Punzie went ahead to find a compartment for us."

"Well, it's nice to see you, too!" Jack smirked before turning to face his mother and sister. "I'll see you both at the start of summer?"

"Absolutely." His mother smiled, kissing his forehead and giving him a tight hug. "Be safe and have fun. I love you, Jack."

"Love you, too, mom." Jack smiled and looked at his little sister. "We can go get ice-cream as soon as I get back." He promised.

"Yeah!" Emma grinned, giving her brother a quick hug.

After a few more hugs and goodbyes, Jack finally followed Merida onto the first-year car of the train. They quickly found the nearest window so they could wave goodbye as the train pulled away from the station. When the train had left the station far behind and out of sight, Jack and Merida started searching for Hiccup and Rapunzel. They found the two of them sitting side by side, reading an old-looking book that Rapunzel held in her lap.

"HAPPY NEW YEAR, GUYS!" Jack shouted, throwing himself at both of them with a giant group hug.

"Jack!" Rapunzel laughed happily at the sight of him as she was squished between Jack's chest and Hiccup's side.

"Jack!..." Hiccup puffed because Jack's hug was crushing his lungs to the point of being unable to breathe. When Jack finally let go, Hiccup gasped for breath while Rapunzel grinned brightly, and Merida closed the door to their compartment.

"You guys won't believe what I found!" Jack said, pulling his father's journal out of the inside pocket of his robes.

"I found something, too!" Rapunzel told them, showing them the book she and Hiccup had been looking at. "I was just talking to Hiccup about it."

"I wasn't able to find anything." Hiccup looked down ashamedly. "The library at home is... limited to say the least." He fidgeted uncomfortably.

"Don't worry so much, Hic. We weren't expecting to find anything anyways." Jack nudged him lightly in the shoulder. Hiccup merely gave a grimace of recognition, but he still had a guilty look on his face.

"Bah. You're not the only one, Hiccup." Merida huffed in annoyance. "I tried asking Dad, but he just went off on old war stories from when the vikings tried to invade Scotland." She rolled her eyes as Hiccup's widened considerably.

"Vikings, huh?" He choked, and Jack tilted his head curiously.

"Yeah, nasty bunch they are." Merida nodded solemnly.

"Did you try looking in the library? I'm sure Scotland must have one." Rapunzel raised an eyebrow at Merida questioningly.

"My mum was on my tail the whole break! I wasn't willing to risk my research time with my mum's princess lessons!" Merida retorted hotly, and Rapunzel chuckled, shaking her head.

"How about we take a look at what we do have?" Hiccup suggested. The others nodded in agreement, and Rapunzel opened her book, searching for a certain page.

"I remembered something my parents said about Professor North being something called a "Guardian", back when I decided to attend Hogwarts over Beauxbatons, and I thought that maybe since Prof. North seemed so worried researching him might prove to be helpful. The short version is: I found this." Rapunzel turned the book towards them, and they all looked at it intently.

"That's my Dad!" Jack exclaimed, and the others stared at him in shock as he pointed at the image. The picture was of Prof. North, Bunnymund, Toothiana, Sandman, Jack's father, Dr. Sweet from Hogwarts, and several others that Jack didn't recognize. They all stood in a group before the camera, smiling as if they were joking and laughing just before the picture was taken.

"Wow, he looks just like you, Jack!" Hiccup commented. "Oh, well, I guess _you_ look just like _him_."

Jack's eyes shone at the kinda-compliment, and he looked back at the picture. His father looked just as he remembered him; Blue eyes and shaggy hair just like Jack's, except it was snow white in color. Of course, Percy Frost had a much more defined jaw, and his shoulders were broader, but Jack's mother was always telling him that he looked just like his Dad when he was Jack's age.

"That's incredible." Rapunzel breathed, pulling their attention towards her. "Your dad was a Guardian." She said, her eyes bright and smile wide.

"What's that?" Merida wanted to know.

"The Guardians are a group of wizards brought together by Professor Tsar Lunar, we all know him, of course. Who wouldn't know him? He's the greatest wizard of our time, and he's the Headmaster of Hogwarts! -"

"We _know_ , Punzie. Why don't you tell us the part we don't know?" Merida recommended.

"Oh, heh heh, right." Rapunzel pushed a stray lock of hair behind her ear and then continued. "Well, Prof. Lunar is the founder of a group known as the Guardians. He hand chose each Guardian himself, choosing only the bravest and strongest of wizards and witches, and he gave them the task of protecting the children of the world." Rapunzel explained. "The Guardians are separate from the Ministry of Magic, but they work together often in times of war or other crisis. The Guardians don't actively make their existence known, which is why none of us knew of them, but they don't hide it either. Prof. Lunar founded the Guardians of Childhood because of a Dark Wizard that was threatening the peace of the world. It says here that after the great battles took place, Prof. Lunar offered all of his Guardians of Childhood a job at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Many accepted, which we know because half of them are our teachers, but there were a select few that decided against it for various reasons."

"Wait, what?" Merida asked.

"That's all the book says." Rapunzel pointed to the last paragraph.

"But who was the Dark Wizard they were fighting? And what happened during the battles?" Jack demanded.

"It might have been left out on purpose..." Hiccup remarked.

"But we barely know anything about these "Guardians of Childhood"!" Merida groaned.

"It's a fantastic start, though." Hiccup smiled. "Jack, you said that you found something?"

"Hm? Oh, yeah!" Jack pulled out his father's journal and opened it to the page he had kept with a bookmark. "This is a journal that my Dad kept while he was working as an Auror." Jack explained. "I read through it for almost two hours before I found this entry, listen: 'My partner and I were following a lead a few days ago that brought us to the kingdom of Gabylonia. After a week of searching we finally had to admit that we lost the lead and go home, but we found something that has been bothering me since I returned home to my family. We found a dead dragon. It was far outside the border of Gabylonia, and was laying in a ditch where no one would ever find it, unless they went looking. There are so many unanswered questions that bother me. How did the dragon get there? What was a dragon doing this far from the Archipelago? They've never inhabited any other kingdom before. How did the dragon die? It looked as if it had been killed. It worries me. The wounds were strange; not clean enough to be any blade, but not jagged enough to be claws or teeth. I've had a handful of dreams where I watch the dragon die, but I can never see the face of the killer. It makes me wonder if Kozmotis has returned and is playing games with me. The thought terrifies me, and I find myself fearing for my son and my wife. Perhaps I should tell Mim? He and the others could help, but I would hate to bother them with something that could very easily just be my paranoia... And yet still...'." Jack finished reading and looked at the others.

"Again with the half answers!" Merida cried in frustration, throwing her hands in the air. "Who are Kozmotis and Mim?"

"I don't know, but this is the first entry before my Dad starts talking about some important investigation he's taken on. His entries go up until the date of when he disappeared... I think my Dad was investigating something that had to do with that thing that attacked us, and I want answers." Jack told them, his thoughts troubled.

What really happened to his Dad? Why did he just... Disappear?

"We'll find answers, Jack." Rapunzel said softly, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"Rapunzel's right." Hiccup announced, drawing the attention of the entire compartment. "This is a lot of information. I'll do some research in the library and try to fill in all the gaps. Until then we should try to keep a low profile. I think this stuff is a little more serious than we originally thought."

The others nodded in agreement, and then turned to look at the small window on the compartment door. People were moving about, talking and laughing. Some of them were dressed in school robes.

"Everyone is getting changed." Rapunzel smiled. "We should probably do the same. We'll be back at school soon."

"Yeah." Jack offered a smile. "Come on, Hic." Jack motioned for the other boy to follow, and they waited for their turn out in the hall as the girls changed.

Hogwarts was just as it had been when they left; breath-taking and incredible, except for one minor detail. Now the suits of armor that once decorated the halls walked across the walls that bordered the castle itself and patrolled the edge of the Forbidden Forest. Hogwarts security had increased quite noticeably and, judging from the murmurs and questioning glances, they weren't the only students who noticed.

When the four of them finally reached the Great Hall, they separated to spend the first night back to school with each of their Houses. The feast was wonderful, and everyone seemed to be in a good mood, which was especially nice for Jack because the few housemates that still questioned his loyalty to Slytherin House left him alone, and Jack was free to talk and joke with Mavis, Wilbur, and even Flynn for a little while.

After dinner, as everyone was slowly settling down, Deputy Headmaster North stepped forward on the dais to address the students. "Hello, and welcome back!" He began. "I am pleased to see you all smiling and safe after your travels. Over the break the other Professors and I spoke about a creature that appeared in the Forbidden Forest, and we have decided that for the safety of all students we shall be increasing security throughout the castle. But be assured, children, Hogwarts is still perfectly safe and secure. All of the Professors and faculty are dedicated to your protection. The security is only formality, and once the Forbidden Forest has been searched and cleared, all shall return to as it was. Until such time, Care of Magical Creatures classes shall be held in the courtyard next to the greenhouses..."

Prof. North continued on about small changes that had been made to assure the students safety, and all of the other students accepted the explanation easily, but when Jack looked over at the other tables and found the others looking back at him as well. They all exchanged knowing, but curious looks. Prof. North hadn't even told them what the creature was, and why patrol the castle if they were certain the creature was in the forest?

When the feast was over, and Prof. North had said all he wanted to, the students began to file out of the Great Hall towards the common rooms. Jack wished Hiccup, Rapunzel, and Merida goodnights as he passed them and then went with Mavis and Wilbur to the Slytherin common room.

That night, when Jack went to bed, he was trapped inside terrible nightmares all night...


	11. Investigations

**Chapter 11: Investigations**

Merida walked up to the table Jack and Rapunzel occupied and slammed a large book down on it's top. The two other occupants of the table jumped and looked up at her as she flopped into a seat with a groan.

"We've been reading for hours and we haven't found anything!" She groaned.

"Well, it's not like the Guardians go around writing novels about themselves." Jack pointed out, flipping through a medium sized book on legends and old tales.

"Maybe we're looking in the wrong places." Rapunzel suggested. "We could try some of the books with information on the Ministry of Magic."

Merida and Jack both groaned at the idea of more reading and slumped in their chairs. Rapunzel sighed and shook her, but she was smiling fondly at them. The moment was interrupted when Hiccup came hurrying towards them, and Jack's head snapped up instantly, immediately more energetic than he was just a few seconds ago.

"Hiccup!" He grinned, and Merida looked up curiously.

"Where have you been?" She wondered as Hiccup dropped his thing into an empty chair and then sat in another.

"Sorry I'm late." He apologized. "I forgot to tell you guys my makeup test was today."

"Makeup test? But you've never missed a class." Rapunzel tilted her head slightly, confused.

"Yeah, Prof. Bunnymund lost my test from last week, so he asked me to come to his office hours to retake it. I don't mind, really, but it was kinda weird. Prof. Bunnymund is usually so much more organized. I wonder how he lost my test." Hiccup shrugged.

"Well, it's not like you've missed much." Jack grumbled, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms.

"We haven't found anything on the Guardians, Kozmotis, or Mim." Merida explained as she, too, crossed her arms and glared at the old books.

"I was afraid of that." Hiccup said as he looked at some of the books they had on the table.

"Afraid of what?" Rapunzel wanted to know.

"Well, if the Guardians don't want themselves to be common knowledge to the public then they're obviously not going to leave books lying around for all the students of Hogwarts to read." Hiccup flipped through a few pages of a book before checking the title, and then sighed. "There are a few more books I know of that might have something... I'll be right back." Hiccup told them and then disappeared behind some bookshelves.

The girls looked at Jack questioningly, but he just shrugged. When Hiccup returned just a few moments later, he carried a stack of books. He put them down on the table, and Merida and Jack looked at each other before looking at the books with dread. They were all huge books, covered in dust. Jack's eyes welled up and Merida slammed her forehead against the table as Hiccup rolled his eyes.

"Oh, stop it. I'll do the reading, you guys just focus on your homework." Hiccup smirked as Merida lifted her head hopefully, and Jack's eyes beamed as his grin reached to his eyes.

"But we can't let you do all this work on your own." Rapunzel worried, making Jack and Merida tense and look at her with grimacing faces. "You have homework, too, Hiccup."

"Don't worry. I've already done some of my work, and it's only fair after me being late and all. Besides, I like to read... And unlike Jack and Merida, I know what a concordance is." Hiccup looked pleased with himself, and Rapunzel covered her mouth as she laughed.

"A what?" Jack asked.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Merida raised an eyebrow and pursed her lips.

"I rest my case." Hiccup gave Rapunzel a knowing look and she laughed some more. Jack and Merida just looked confused.

A few hours later, when Jack, Merida, and Rapunzel had finished most of their homework, Hiccup had just finished his reading, placing the last book down with a sigh. The others looked at him hopefully, but he shook his head and they all slumped in their seats.

"What now?" Jack wondered. The girls seemed to be at a loss, but Hiccup fidgeted awkwardly.

"I might know someone who can help us..." Hiccup said hesitantly.

"Really?" Merida's head popped up excitedly.

"Who is it?" Rapunzel inquired.

Hiccup just sighed and started packing up his things, motioning for the others to follow him.

* * *

The four stood outside the shed where the school kept the flying broomsticks. Hiccup was standing at the front of the group, and he stepped forward and knocked on the door as they all stared up at it with wide eyes. The door opened and revealed the boy Jack had seen handling the brooms after his very first flying lesson.

The boy had brown eyes and brown hair with a small ponytail on the back of his head. He wore a plain, light brown shirt and black pants, and a smudge of black broom polish was smeared on his cheek.

"What's up, Squirt?" The boy raised an eyebrow at Hiccup.

"We need some help." Hiccup said simply, and the boy smirked.

"Step into my office." He quipped sarcastically as he went back inside, leaving the door open for them.

"I thought you said none of the other Ravenclaws were good with sarcasm?" Jack elbowed Hiccup lightly. "Isn't this guy from your House?"

"Yeah, Jim Hawkins. He's a second-year that likes to keep to himself. We talked once after a month of school, maybe? He said he liked my sass. Whatever that means." Hiccup shrugged and lead the way into the small shed.

Jack and the girls were right behind Hiccup as he entered the shed. Jack was surprised to find a small work space had been created inside the storage shed. The to side walls were completely covered by broomsticks hanging on racks. On the right was a cabinet that had been left open, so Jack could see that it was full of cleaning supplies. On the left side was a table littered with rags, broom polish, and several different kinds of brushes. At the back wall in the right corner was a small desk covered in papers, quills, ink, and different pieces of a much bigger contraption that was leaning against the outside of the desk.

"So what has you stumped so bad that you feel you need to come to me?" Jim asked, pulling the two chairs from the work table and the desk, and a stool from the left corner. He pushed the seats towards Jack, Merida, and Rapunzel and then hopped up onto the bigger table. Hiccup did the same, surprisingly relaxed-looking in the slightly strange setting.

"We're looking into something we think the teachers are hiding from us, but we couldn't find anything related to it in the library. What we do know is pretty limited." Hiccup told him, handing Jim a small notebook.

"Guardians, eh?" The older boy muttered, reading some of Hiccup's notes. "I've heard of them."

"Do you remembered where you heard about them?" Rapunzel quizzed hopefully.

"From an old friend. And it was brief. I couldn't tell you anything about this stuff." Jim shook his head slightly. "You're right about one thing, these guys are not easy to find. The only place I can think of looking is the restricted section in the library."

"And how are we supposed to get in there?" Merida demanded, putting her fists on her hips.

"Well..." Jim drawled, crossing his arms and leaning back. "I might know that Augustus leaves the library completely unattended for about an hour when he joins everyone during the dinner feast in the Great Hall every night. I might also know that the password to get into the restricted section is "owl teeth"... But you didn't hear that from me." Jim winked, handing the notebook back to Hiccup.

"Thanks, Jim!" Hiccup grinned, jumping off the table. Merida and Jack started moving to leave with Hiccup, but Rapunzel stayed seated.

"Wait." She said, making them all freeze and look back at her curiously. "You're just going to let us go and break school rules?" She turned to Jim.

"Sure." Jim shrugged, and then waved to them with a smile. "Have fun being delinquents! Try not to get caught this time, yeah?"

"Oh, Ha Ha!" Hiccup retorted as the four first-years walked away. They could hear Jim laugh even though they were halfway across the flying courtyard.

"He's cool. You should keep him." Jack remarked. Hiccup just rolled his eyes.

* * *

The head librarian at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Augustus Labonte, left the library that evening just a few minutes after the last student to leave the library rushed off to dinner. The library doors were left open, but the hall itself was quiet and empty.

"Snow Hawk to Freckles. The owl has left the tree. I repeat: The owl has left the tree." Jack whispered into a small stone, looking around to make sure the coast was clear.

"Jack, for the last time: I am standing right next to you, that rock is not enchanted to be a communication stone, and, next time, I'm picking the code names!" Hiccup hissed in annoyance as Jack scratched the back of his head sheepishly.

"Would you two quit goofing around and get over here already?" Merida demanded, fists planted firmly on her hips as Rapunzel tried to cover her giggling with her hand.

"Come on, you two." Rapunzel spoke a little more gently as Merida huffed and crossed her arms. "We only have about an hour to find what we're looking for."

With that, Rapunzel lead the way into the library with Merida and the boys following after her. They ran quickly and quietly to the front desk of the library at the back of the room. Behind the desk was a door with a handle, but there was no physical lock on it. The four first-years all looked at each other before Merida finally stepped forward.

"Owl teeth." She pronounced clearly and, with a click, the door swung open. They all grinned and hurried inside, Jack slowing to carefully close the door behind them.

"Okay, where do we start?" Merida asked, looking at Hiccup as his eyes scanned the tops of the bookshelves.

"I think I have an idea, come on." He said, rushing down an aisle. His eyes found whatever he was looking for first and he stopped. Jack followed his gaze upwards and saw an old book sitting on the second-highest shelf. It was laying flat, rather than standing straight up like all the other books, because the books on the highest shelves were very few in numbers and completely unorganized.

"How do you know it's that one?" Rapunzel wanted to know.

"There was a mention of it in one of the books I read earlier, but I had never seen it in the library. It was a lucky guess that it was in here." Hiccup told her.

"Great. How about we get it down?" Jack grinned, pointing to the sliding ladder near the end of the aisle.

It took only a few moments for Jack to scurry up the ladder and bring the book down to them, so Hiccup opened the book and skimmed over it's context to make sure it was what they were looking for.

The sound of the door being whipped open made them all freeze and look towards the front of the restricted section.

"Now where did I put that herbology book? I could've sworn I'd left it on the front desk..." Augustus's voice drifted through the air, and the sounds of his footsteps got closer and closer to Jack and the others with each step.

"Quick, this way!" Jack whispered, tugging Merida's sleeve as the other three turned to follow him.

Jack ran down an aisle five bookshelves away from the exit while Augustus went down the third aisle. When Jack reached the end of the aisle, he slid to a stop and the others skidded into him from behind. They managed to stay on their feet, but they looked up with wide eyes as Augustus came around the corner looking down at a book.

"Go, go, go!" Jack mouthed quietly as the four ducked behind the bookshelf again.

Augustus looked up from his book with a thoughtful expression and went down the fourth aisle, still searching for whatever had drawn him back to the library.

The four all peeked out from behind the bookshelf. Seeing that Augustus had his back turned to them, Jack stepped out first, sneaking across the aisle quietly. He made it, unnoticed, to the other side and then waved for one of the others to come next. Rapunzel stepped forward hesitantly. She made it across in one, nerve bound leap, lunging straight for Jack's out-stretched hand that pulled her over until she stood safely behind him and the bookshelf on the other side. Merida came next, slipping across easily and calmly, and then letting Jack and Rapunzel pull her back into the shadow of the bookshelf as she kept one eye on Augustus.

Hiccup stood nervously on the other side, still hold the book, and Jack waved for him to cross, but when they both peeked around the corner to make sure the coast was clear, Augustus turned around and started walking towards them.

They all reeled backwards, Jack and the girls running towards the exit, and Hiccup sprinting down the fifth aisle like his life depended on it. Augustus turned the corner, walking into the fifth aisle just as Hiccup managed to grab the end of the bookshelf to help him swing around to the back aisle that ran along the back wall of the restricted section.

Hiccup ran as fast as he possibly could to the first aisle that was perfectly in line with the door, and Jack held it open as Rapunzel and Merida went through. When Jack looked back to see what had become of his friend, he saw Hiccup turn down the first aisle, running straight him and the door.

"Come on, come on, come on!" Jack whispered as Hiccup flew towards him and made it to the door. Jack patted the other boy's shoulder as he passed and then followed him out the door.

The four didn't stop running until they reached the stairway that would bring them down to the Great Hall. Once they got there, they slowed to a stop at the top of the stairs and dissolved into relieved laughter.

"I can't believe we did that!" Rapunzel exclaimed, her eyes bright with excitement. "I've never broken the rules before!" She informed them, still smiling, but then the smile dropped. "What if mother and father find out? They would be so furious."

Jack chuckled. "They're not supposed to find out, Punzie. That's the whole point!"

"Yeah, you two would know." Merida snickered at Jack and Hiccup.

Hiccup had the decency to look at least a little embarrassed, but Jack just grinned proudly and threw an arm around Hiccup's shoulders.

"Well, I don't want to brag or anything, but we're kind of pranking legends." Jack grinned like a Cheshire cat. Hiccup just snorted at him and shrugged his arm off.

"I'm just glad we got what we were looking for." Hiccup said, slipping the book into his bag. "I'll study it later and let you guys know when I find something."

"Sounds good to me." Merida sighed as they started walking down the stairs. "I could use a break after tonight."

It was at that moment that they turned the corner at the bottom of the stairs and came face to face with Professor Bunnymund.

"And where have you been?" The Professor demanded as the four stumbled over their words and looked at each other for some sort of an excuse. When they came up with none, Bunnymund came to his own conclusion. "Just what I thought. It was bad enough when I realized neither of you were at dinner." Bunnymund shot a glare at Jack and Hiccup. "But now you're dragging two model students into this, too! This is the fourth time this Week!"

As the Professor began to lecture them, Jack rolled his eyes and looked incredibly bored as Hiccup tried to look admonished, but his eyes drifted everywhere and he puffed up his cheeks to keep the rather plain expression of expectancy off of his face.

"Where is it this time, hm? The boys bathroom, perhaps? Or maybe the owlry? Should I expect to get sprayed with pumpkin juice the next time I go to send a letter?" Bunnymund interrogated the boys, but they just glanced at each other with smirks and glinting eyes.

That's an idea to keep in mind.

"Professor!" Rapunzel blurted out, suddenly drawing everyone's attention to her. "Uh... W-well... It's just that, um..."

"You see, Cottontail." Jack began, and Bunnymund fumed at the nickname. "Hic and I had a really great idea, would've blown you away, really, but these two convinced us that the idea was just so amazing that we should save it for our last Snowman of the year." Jack grinned mischievously and Hiccup snorted with laughter at the inside joke while the girls just looked confused.

Bunnymund growled at the joke. "Is that so?" He asked doubtfully, looking at the girls.

"Y-Yes!" Merida jumped in. "It -It really was quite the idea, but Rapunzel and I figured we could do the school a favor by getting these two morons to behave for once."

"Hey." Jack quipped in the background, but Merida ignored him.

Bunnymund sighed tiredly. "I know there's more going on here, and I know you're all hiding something, but I already see more of you two in detention than I would like, so I'm just going to pretend that I don't know you four broke who knows how many rules." The four children grinned up at the tall Pooka and he grumbled something unintelligible before shooing them off. "Get out of here, then, before I change my mind! And don't let me catch you sneaking off during another meal!"

The four scurried past, perfectly happy to get away with no detention or other punishment, but before they could join the rest of their classmates in the Great Hall for the last half of dinner, Professor Bunnymund called after them.

"And Mr. Haddock." The four paused to look back at the teacher as he addressed Hiccup. "I have your test results, and I would like to see you in my office tomorrow." With that, the Professor left them to their own devices, and the others looked at Hiccup worriedly.

"That doesn't sound good." Merida muttered.

"I wouldn't worry. I think it's school policy that he has to give me my test back when no other students are around or something like that." Hiccup shrugged.

"Come on you guys, lets get to dinner before anyone else realizes we're gone." Rapunzel said, leading the way into the Great Hall.


	12. Another Dead-End

**Chapter 12: Another Dead-End**

It was fairly early on a Sunday morning. Hiccup, Rapunzel, and Merida sat together at the Ravenclaw table. Besides the odd student scattered here and there across the hall and the few professors sitting up on dais, preparing lessons for the coming week, they were the only people awake enough to eat breakfast and actually hold a conversation.

Over the course of a couple days, all of Hogwarts had started noticing the bags under many of the students eyes and, before long, everyone knew what was going on: Nightmares. Over half of the students were plagued by terrible nightmares. Jack, Merida, Hiccup, and Rapunzel all admitted to each other that they were having nightmares as well. And the teachers were not very good at hiding their worry. All of their professors were on edge, constantly looking all around the classrooms.

Dark Magic had gotten into the castle, and everyone knew it.

During this school-wide revelation, Hiccup had spent several evenings going through the old book they had managed to swipe from the restricted section, and he had finally found something. Because they didn't want people eavesdropping as they talked, Rapunzel suggested that they should meet early while most everyone was still asleep. However, Jack was running late.

Merida, Hiccup, and Rapunzel were enjoying a simple breakfast, watching as more and more students came into the Great Hall. Several Slytherins came in all at once, yawning and looking slightly annoyed, but they were followed by a black-robed blur that flew straight at Hiccup.

The next thing anyone knew, Jack had yanked Hiccup out of his seat and grabbed him by the shoulders. "HICCUP, YOU WON'T BELIEVE IT! IT'S FINALLY HAPPENING! LOOK! LOOK! LOOK!" He shouted excitedly, shaking Hiccup and then bowing his head.

Hiccup glanced at the girls, confused, but they only shrugged. "Uh... What exactly am I looking at?" He asked.

Jack's head shot back up, he was beaming so brightly it was slightly disturbing. "My HAIR! Look at my HAIR!" He dropped his head back down, and Hiccup squinted at the brown locks.

There, right in the middle and almost completely invisible, was a single white hair.

"You have a white hair." Hiccup noted, raising one eyebrow at the tiny thing.

"YES!" Jack exclaimed. He finally let go of Hiccup so he could jump with a whoop, and the girls looked even more confused than before.

"A white hair? What's so exciting about a white hair? Doesn't that just mean you're getting old?" Merida wanted to know, looking at Punzie who shrugged again.

"I'll have you know that this is the beginning of a very serious initiation process. We Winter Sprites take pride in our culture!" Jack puffed his chest out and lifted his chin, trying to look noble and official.

"Winter Sprite?" Rapunzel cried.

"Initiation process? What are you talking about?" Merida demanded.

"You didn't know?" Hiccup honestly looked shocked by their flummoxed expressions. "Jack's love for freezing things didn't even tip you off?"

"Would one of you stop being so cryptic and explain whats going on?" Merida grumbled, not liking being left out of the loop.

"Jack's a Winter Sprite." Hiccup shrugged as if it were obvious.

"But I thought Winter Sprites had white hair." Rapunzel pointed out.

"It doesn't start out that way." Jack told them rather indignantly. "It's our Coming of Age process. My hair turning white means that my powers are coming in, and once it's finished changing color I'll be able to become a full member of a Winter Sprite Clan! My Great Aunt lives with the clan my dad had belonged to, and she promised that once I became of age she would help me be initiated." Jack's eyes shone brightly as he stared into the distance dramatically.

"Does he always get this weird when talking about Winter Sprite culture?" Merida asked Hiccup, but she didn't take her perturbed gaze away from Jack's almost sparkling face.

"All the time." Hiccup replied dryly, much less unsettled by Jack's behavior than Merida and Rapunzel.

Because the Great Hall was so full of people by the time they returned to eating their breakfast, Jack told them all about the Coming of Age Ceremonies he would go through once he was ready. This brought up a great discussion about different cultures that was rather interesting, especially when Rapunzel regaled them with tales of the Festival of Light that was celebrated every year in Corona. When they finished their breakfast, the four decided to go to the library for the quiet and the extra privacy.

"Alright, what's so important that we can't talk about it in the Great Hall?" Merida inquired, looking at Hiccup as they all went to their usual seats at their table.

"This." Hiccup answered simply, pushing the book they 'borrowed' towards them. It was opened to a page with a large picture of the Guardians locked in battle with some kind of shadow man. "General Kozmotis Pitchiner was the name of the Nightmare King before he was consumed by Dark Magic. Kozmotis is the Dark Sorcerer, Pitch Black."

"What?" Jack breathed in disbelief, looking up from the picture.

"That's impossible. Pitch Black was defeated by the Ministry of Magic during the War of the Dark Ages." Rapunzel looked at the others, looking for some form of confirmation.

"That must be what they told people, so the Guardians could stay in the shadows. It was the Guardians defeated him and ended the Dark Ages, not the Ministry." Hiccup told them with a slightly satisfied expression on his face. "But that's all I could find." He sighed, deflating a bit. "There just isn't anything else about the Guardians anywhere."

"It's alright, Hiccup. You did your best, and you found a lot more than any of us." Rapunzel said kindly.

"Yeah, but that doesn't help us much." Hiccup pursed his lips. "We're out of leads, and I haven't got a clue how all this stuff links together. _If_ it links together..."

"Hiccup's right. We're just as lost as when we started." Jack slumped back in his chair, crossing his arms and biting his lip as he thought. His father had done this sort of thing for a living, hadn't he? Solving mysteries, catching bad guys, and, apparently, battling evil. Shouldn't Jack have inherited some kind of Mystery Solver gene that would help them now? Jack sighed and looked at the others. "What are we gonna do now?"

Merida shrugged hopelessly, and Hiccup just looked down at the book gloomily. Rapunzel looked thoughtful. She took a breath in as if she were going to say something, paused, and then continued slowly.

"What if we asked a teacher...?" She thought out loud. The others shared a couple glances and then looked at Rapunzel for her to continue. "I mean, everyone is having nightmares, and there's been a lot of rumors about Dark Magic in the castle... Wouldn't it make sense for a nervous student to ask about the King of Nightmares?"

"That's a good idea." Jack perked up with a smile. "We could ask questions without making any of the teachers suspicious."

"It's worth a shot, and sense we don't have any other leads it's our only option, too." Hiccup agreed. "But which one of us is gonna ask?"

"I'll do it." Merida offered. "We already know Professor North is a Guardian, right? Well, Jack and I have class with him first thing tomorrow morning, and he's the Deputy Headmaster. If anyone knows what's going on, it's him."

"Okay, but you both have to fill us in as soon as you can." Rapunzel looked at both Merida and Jack who nodded in return.

"While they're busy with that, we can review Prof. Toothiana's lesson on Sorcerers." Hiccup proposed, looking at Rapunzel. "The information might come in handy if we really are dealing with a Dark Sorcerer..."

The next day Jack found himself anxiously glancing at Merida as the whole class waited for Prof. North to arrive. Jack was curious as to what Merida was going to say, but he was also nervous for everything that could go wrong, and he knew he wasn't the only one because Merida kept glancing back at him nervously as well.

Prof. North finally came and started setting his things down as he started the class. "Good morning, children. I hope you all are doing well?" His usually downright jolly greeting was strangely serious, and none of the students could give an extremely enthusiastic reply so the classroom fell into an uncomfortable silence before Merida hesitantly raised her hand.

"Sir?" She began, and Prof. North nodded to show her she had his attention. "Well, it's just that... There have been a lot of rumors, and I was starting to wonder about Pitch Black..."

Silence swallowed the room in one big gulp. From the frightened, but anxious looks of the other students, Jack realized that they weren't the only kids to connect the nightmares and the Dark Magic to the evil sorcerer. Merida just happened to be the only one brave enough to say it out loud.

Professor North sighed deeply, rubbing the bridge of his nose with both hands before addressing the whole class. "We do not know if the recent disturbances at the school were caused by the Nightmare King or not, but you must all remember that bad dreams can hurt you only if you let them. You children have much more power than you know. Your hopes and dreams are stronger than any Dark Magic that cowers in a shadow! Keep the wonder of this world and the happy memories that give you strength close to you, and you will be alright. I promise you all your safety on behalf of the entire school because it is our duty and privilege to protect each one of you." Prof. North told them earnestly. "With that being said, we can not let fear keep us from the joys of Charms! Today we begin practicing the Unlocking Charm, also known as the 'Thief's Friend'!"

The students spirits lifted instantly at such a treat, but Jack watched as Merida turned to look back at him worriedly. He wasn't sure what to do with what Prof. North had told them, but he knew that Rapunzel and Hiccup would want to hear about it right away.

"He either confirmed everything at once or nothing at all, and we have no way of knowing which it is!" Merida groaned in frustration once she and Jack were finished explaining what had happened in Charms.

When they finished all of their classes, the four met in the library as usual and Jack and Merida practically burst into the story of their Charm's class from earlier that day. Merida was annoyed by the whole thing, and Jack couldn't blame her. This whole big mess seemed to have them running around in circles. He looked to Hiccup and Rapunzel, and they appeared to be just as troubled as he felt.

A long moment of silence engulfed them as they each became deeply absorbed in their own thoughts.

"...What -what if the Nightmare King really is back?" Rapunzel asked quietly, uncertainty and fear shining in her blue-green eyes.

None of them had really stopped and thought about it long enough to realize how dire their entire situation could be. They all looked at each other now, feeling the seriousness of the whole thing pressing in on them.

"Well, it's not like we can just stop now. Someone has to figure out what's going on." Merida pointed out.

"And no one knows about my dad's journal, or any of the other stuff we've found." Jack agreed.

"You're both right, and I don't think anyone will listen to a bunch of first-years. Not when it's this serious. We all saw how they shooed us off to bed the night of the attack, they don't think we're old enough for this stuff." Hiccup sighed, looking down at the tables shiny surface.

"If the adults won't listen then I guess it's up to us." Rapunzel murmured as they all looked at each other uncertainly.


	13. The Attack

**Chapter 13: The Attack**

The library was quiet as Jack studied with his friends before dinner. Rapunzel was reading her History of Magic book while Merida practiced the levitation charm as early review for the upcoming examinations, and Hiccup was curled up silently on the window seat by their table looking at the night sky as he worked on his Astronomy assignment. Jack sighed out of boredom.

It had been two days since their last lead went dry, and now they were completely stuck in their investigations. Not that their homework was helping any. Because of the fast approaching final exams, all of the teachers were working hard to give them their last few lessons before beginning the week-long review of everything they've learned. Every time Jack felt like he was finally ahead in one subject he would turn around to find that he was three steps behind in four other classes. It wasn't that the work was too hard, there was just quite a lot of it once you added it all together at the end of the day.

"I think I'm gonna take a break." Jack announced, the sound seeming loud in the quietness of the library. "I've got some Bertie Botts if any of you want some." He said, reaching into his bag and pulling out the brightly colored package.

"A break sounds like a fantastic idea." Rapunzel smiled in tired relief and closed the large book she was holding. Hiccup and Merida simply gave grunts of agreement, being too tired from all the studying to actually come up with some sort of reply.

Hiccup dragged his feet over to the table and plopped into his chair as Jack gave some of the candy beans to Rapunzel and Merida. After they each had some Bertie Botts they settled into their chairs, sighing with contentment all at once.

"So, Hiccup, what score did you get on your makeup test?" Merida wanted to know as she tried a pale pink colored candy.

Hiccup suddenly choked on the bean he had been eating and started coughing and sputtering hard enough for Jack to reach over and pat his back. "You okay there, Hic?" Jack wondered, arching one eyebrow at the choking Ravenclaw.

"Y-Yeah, yes. I'm good." Hiccup gasped, his eyes red as he finally managed to stop coughing. The others waited, but Hiccup didn't say anything else and he gave them a questioning look when he noticed them staring.

"What grade did you get, goof-ball?" Jack chuckled, nudging Hiccup's shoulder.

"Oh, uh, it was good." Hiccup shrugged in a not particularly interested way, but he was avoiding eye contact with them.

Before any of them could say anything else, a shriek came from somewhere in the castle, causing the four students to jump to their feet. A single look passed between all of them, and they all ran for the library exit. They followed the other curious students down several corridors before finally coming to an open area where three different hallways all connected.

Professor Bunnymund, being the head of Slytherin House, was at the center of the madness, picking up an unconscious Slytherin student and placing her on the stretcher that the school nurses were holding.

"That's Mavis!" Jack hissed to the others. Mavis was one of the nicest people in Slytherin House, and Jack talked with her fairly often. Now she was being taken to the hospital wing on a stretcher with a nasty gash on her forehead and blood dripping down the side of her head. Professor Bunnymund and the other professors were muttering to each other quietly as Dr. Sweet, the head of the hospital wing, and his nurses took care of Mavis.

"Come on." Rapunzel motioned for the others to follow her and then hurried over to Kristoff, a second-year Hufflepuff that was standing off to the side of the giant crowd of students that had gathered after hearing Mavis scream. "Kristoff!" Rapunzel called out as the four younger students ran up to the blonde boy.

"Hi, Rapunzel." The other Hufflepuff greeted her.

"Did you see what happened? We were in the library when we heard someone scream!" Rapunzel said worriedly.

"No, I don't think anyone saw exactly what happened, but I overheard some of the other students saying they saw some kind of shadow disappear around the corner." Kristoff informed them.

Jack looked at the others, exchanging a handful of glances with them, as his thoughts wandered to the attack in the Forbidden Forest and a certain Dark Sorcerer. He looked over at Professor North who was muttering to the other professors about something very urgently just before Bunnymund rejoined them. North nodded to the other professors and then addressed the crowd of students.

"I know many of you are concerned for Ms. Dracula's health, but I must ask that all students return to their dormitories immediately." Prof. North's booming voice easily carried across the halls and as soon as he finished all the students turned to do as they were told.

"What do we do?" Merida muttered quietly to them, glancing nervously at the other Gryffindors retreating figures.

"This way." Jack answered, motioning for them to follow as he hurried between a few clumps of students and then ducked behind a corner. As all of the students cleared the halls and the noise of shuffling feet and gossiping whispers faded, the teachers voices became more intelligible.

"North this has gone too far!" Professor Toothiana was the first to speak, fluttering about in a slightly panicked sort of way.

"I know, Tooth, but we do not have many options right now." Professor North pointed out.

"Well, we have to think of something!" Prof. Bunnymund exclaimed. "Drac's gonna be here within a day, knowing him, and he's going to want to know how his daughter was attacked while under our supervision. Not to mention the rest of my House! This is only a couple of hallways from the Slytherin common rooms entrance!"

"Yes, Bunny, but we don't know what we are up against." North cautioned. "Whatever it is, it is very bad. I feel it. In my belly!"

"North, no one's seen Pitch since the Dark Ages, and what proof do we have that it's actually him? Caution is not going to find the person who's attacking the students!" Bunny argued.

There was a sound like tiny bells jingling, and the other professors fell silent as Professor Sandman gestured with his arms and made pictures above his head with his sand.

"Sandy's right. Our first priority needs to be protecting the children." North spoke again, his voice quieter and more serious. "Bunny, Tooth, I want you to search the castle and see what you can find. I will gather the other professors and make an announcement to the students: Everyone will stay in Great Hall until we can be sure that the school is safe."

"I'll get my fairies to help us, so we can search more of the grounds faster." Toothiana told Bunny, who nodded in agreement.

"Sandy." North turned to the shorter professor. "Could you use your dream sand to protect the children from nightmares? If it is Pitch then the students fear will only make him stronger."

There were more bells as Sandy nodded his head enthusiastically. Prof. North nodded to each of them, and then the teachers split off down different corridors to do the jobs they'd been given. Once the teachers were well out of sight, Jack turned to the others, and Merida shoved away from the wall.

"Did you here that?" Merida wanted to know, pointing to the spot where the teachers had been. "Professor North just confirmed what we thought! It's Pitch Black!"

"Hang on for a second, Professor Bunnymund said that no one's seen Pitch Black since the Dark Ages. For all we know the teachers could just be preparing themselves for the worst case scenario." Hiccup reminded her.

"Hiccup's right, I think it's a bit too soon to be making conclusions like this." Rapunzel agreed.

"Whether it's Pitch Black or not, Mavis was attacked! The teachers don't even know if the school is safe anymore, we have to do something before anyone else gets hurt!" Jack said, gripping his staff in both hands determinedly.

"What about the teachers?" Rapunzel asked. "We'll get in a lot of trouble if we're caught... maybe we should just let the adults handle it. I want to help as much as you guys do, but we're only first years."

"Rapunzel's not completely wrong." Merida murmured after a moment.

Jack looked at Hiccup and found the other boy looking at him, troubled. They had gotten in trouble countless times, but it had never been for something this serious, this important.

"Yeah, we'll probably get in trouble." Hiccup nodded, and Jack grinned.

"But it's gonna be worth it." Jack added. "Come on, we can do this, I know we can! The teachers are moving too slow, it took them this long just to admit that the school might not be safe. And I just have this feeling that we're supposed to do this. Maybe we are a tiny bit different and even a little weird sometimes, but I think we make an awesome team."

"Oh, all right!" Merida sighed. "But when we get detention I'm going to blame the whole thing on you!"

"He's used to that." Hiccup quipped, smirking.

"Well, I'm not going to be the only one who doesn't keep going with this. What's our next move?" Rapunzel quizzed, looking at all three of them.

"For right now we should get back to our dormitories before anyone realizes we're missing." Hiccup said pointedly and the others nodded.

"Okay. But we have to talk about everything after Prof. North's announcement." Jack voiced seriously.

"That should be easy if we all have to stay in the Great Hall." Merida remarked as they each readjusted their bags and shifted towards the direction of their dormitories. "I guess I'll see you guys then." She waved as she turned to hurry off towards the Gryffindor commons.

"See you then!" Rapunzel waved back.

"Don't get caught sneaking back into your rooms!" Hiccup warned them.

"You guys worry way too much. We're gonna be fine, I know it!" Jack smiled.


	14. Active Fear

**Chapter 14: Active Fear**

The Great Hall was crowded and warmer than usual because of all the extra body heat. Sleeping bags covered the ground, and the tables were pushed to the side of the room, leaving the students to sit on the blankets instead as the House Elves served them breakfast. All of the students stayed among the colors and familiar faces of their own house, except four.

Jack had met up with Merida, Rapunzel, and Hiccup near the entry of the Great Hall and then they had moved off to the left side of the door, closer to the Slytherin and Ravenclaw tables. The Elves had made it through most of the hall and were serving seconds to the students who came looking for it. The Elves were very apologetic when they reached the entry because they were not aware that the Princesses were waiting so long, but Rapunzel asking them if she could help and Merida's reaction startled the poor Wilder-Creatures.

"Don't be ridiculous!" Merida scoffed playfully, smiling at the Elves kindly. "A true leader doesn't eat until his people have been cared for. My dad taught me that!"

Jack smirked and Hiccup just sighed as one of the Elves tried to dissuade Rapunzel from insisting on helping.

"It's be no trouble at all, really." Rapunzel reassured them with a smile, but one of the bustier, female Elves shook her head.

"Oh, no no no!" She tsked. "It wouldn't be proper, Miss. Especially not for a princess!" The short, sweet woman continued to fuss over how kind Rapunzel was, but a princess should never serve food like a scullery maid. Especially not if she hasn't even had anything to eat herself.

Rapunzel seemed disappointed that she wasn't allowed to help, but gave a small smile and thanked the Elves for the food. Merida, Jack, and Hiccup followed her example and accepted some of the offered food while thanking them profusely.

After the Elves bustled off to give more food to the other students and the school staff, the four turned to each other and formed a circle as they started to cool their steaming bowls of food by blowing on them.

"Did any of you get any sleep last night?" Rapunzel worried, looking at each of them.

"Not much, but I think Professor Sandman's sand helped a little bit." Merida smiled weakly.

"Yeah, I think I managed to get a few hours..." Jack agreed. Hiccup just shrugged vaguely and avoided making eye contact by staring down at his food, prodding at it with his spoon meekly.

It had been three days since Mavis was attacked, and, though they continued on with classes, Hogwarts was far from normal. All the teachers were on high alert, the students were anxious, and everyone was lacking a proper nights rest. Whispers had started fluttering across the halls and behind closed doors, spreading rumors about that school closing and the students being sent home.

Sir Dracula, as Bunnymund had predicted, had arrived before the next morning after Mavis was attacked, worried to death about his daughter. He was staying in the hospital wing with Mavis for the time being, and the teachers were beginning to receive letters from other parents. Rapunzel's own father had sent a letter to North, expressing his concern for Rapunzel's safety, and a letter from Merida's mother had followed shortly after. Even Jack had gotten a letter from his mother, asking if everything was all right.

The tense air that had engulfed the school left everyone feeling tired and worried. The students didn't want to be sent home, but they were scared and understandably so. The teachers seemed to get more and more edgy with each passing day.

"I wish there was more that we could do." Rapunzel sighed quietly, wanting to help in some way, but not knowing how.

"Grr, there has to be something!" Jack said roughly. "Maybe we're just not looking hard enough, or maybe we're looking in the wrong places, or something..." He suggested feebly.

"I'm sorry, guys, but that stupid book was the last big idea that I had." Hiccup sighed, his shoulder slumping.

Their conversation was interrupted when a nurse suddenly came into the Great Hall and marched straight over to Prof. North. They spoke to each other for a few minutes, and then the nurse turned and left as Prof. North muttered something to the other teachers and then stepped up to the podium.

"If I may have everyone's attention for a moment." He began, bringing all eyes to him. "I am happy to announce that Miss Dracula is all right and will make a full recovery by the end of this week!" North grinned and cheers lit the Great Hall. After three days of fear, the entire school was thankful for the good news.

As the glad cheers of the students and school faculty faded, North continued. "I am aware that the past few days have been trying for us all, but I believe that we are stronger than any spell. Our school will not submit to pitiful fear-spells set upon our grounds by cowards and fools. We shall find whoever has done these wrong doings, and they shall face justice for all they have done." North promised, eliciting more cheers from all of the students and a few teachers.

Classes that day were better than Jack had expected them to be. Everyone was tired, and working hard to keep the lack of sleep from effecting their work, but the teachers tried to makes classes fun just like always, and the students invited any source of positivity that they could find about the school corridors.

Jack decided to be a source of fun by focusing on the exciting parts of school. It was Thursday, which meant he had Defense Against the Dark Arts with Hiccup, Transfiguration with Merida, and then Flying with Rapunzel the next day. Despite the uncertainty the school was facing and the inevitable boring bits, the teachers still tried to make classes fun, which Jack appreciated.

If the four of them were going to be stuck in their investigations, Jack figured, might as well enjoy themselves until they could come up with an idea of what they should do next.

Defense Against the Dark Arts began that day with a review of the Smokescreen spell that they had learned on Tuesday. Professor Bunnymund lead them outside to practice the spell so the classroom would not be full of smoke once they were finished.

Many of the first-years struggled with the spell. Jack couldn't help but notice that Hiccup seemed to struggle with it only when Professor Bunnymund was watching him, and it looked like Prof. Bunnymund knew it was happening and was aggravated by it. Jack made a mental note to question Hiccup about it later because the other boy had been struggling with other subjects as well recently, and, although Jack would never say it out loud, he was worried that maybe someone was picking on the quiet boy and that was causing Hiccup to dumb himself down in class to seem less smart in the eyes of his class-mates.

Once Prof. Bunnymund was satisfied with each students' progress with the spell, class was dismissed and Jack wasn't able to chase after Hiccup without being late to his Transfiguration class, so when Hiccup waved goodbye, Jack simply returned it and went on his way. He'd have to confront Hiccup later.

Professor North spent the entire class teaching them the Avifors spell, which everyone enjoyed greatly. Several of the students even managed to create a bird for a short time, Merida being one of them.

As Prof. North walked about the room, helping students in any way that he could, Merida and Jack talked quietly with each other as they continued to practice.

"Do you think Hiccup has been acting a little... Different, lately?" Jack muttered, glancing over his shoulder to make sure Prof. North wasn't watching.

"Different how?" Merida inquired a little more casually than Jack, but she still used hushed tones.

"Well, it's just that when we're studying in the library Hiccup can do most of the spells just fine, I've only seen him actually struggle with a spell maybe five or six times, but in class he just seems to lose all his talent. I'm worried that he might be dumbing himself down so he won't stick out in class." Jack informed her of his concerns.

"Why would he do that?" Merida scoffed lightly, not believing Jack's theory for a moment.

"Someone might be picking on him, Merida!" Jack insisted. "What if he's playing dumb because someone is calling him names and stuff for being smart? I saw his last test score, and it was terrible compared to his average. His grades could be dropping because some jerk has too much time on his hands, and -"

"Jack." Merida interrupted, smiling kindly at him. "Do you think maybe it's not so much Hiccup's grades that worry you, but the idea you seem to have that you're a bad friend?"

Jack wasn't sure how to respond to that.

"Look; I agree with ya, okay? Hiccup getting anything less then an 'E' is kinda weird, but a lot is goin' on right now. Maybe we should wait until things start to calm down before we decide to jump on Hiccup's back about the one 'A' that he got." Merida suggested, but Jack's eyes were still big and uncertain. Merida sighed. "If you're that worried then ask him, but I think you're just bein' overprotective."

"I am not! I just don't want anyone bullying Hiccup. He's my best friend..." Jack looked down at the quill he was supposed to be trying to turn into a bird, his head clouded with thoughts.

Merida reached across the table and put her hand over his. "I know you two are close, but not knowing that Hiccup was being bullied before doesn't make you a bad friend. He hid it from all of us. Sometimes all you can do for a friend is be there for 'em. They'll ask for help when they're ready."

"But Hiccup never does." Jack protested. "He thinks that he shouldn't burden other people with his problems." He wrinkled his nose with distaste at the thought.

Merida was silent for a long moment because she knew Jack was right. After a bit of thinking, she crossed her arms and replied thoughtfully. "Well, we could always start stalking him."

"Merida, I'm trying to be serious!" Jack exclaimed.

"So am I!" She defended herself.

Jack huffed and returned to practicing the spell, but he was distracted with the new ideas Merida had put into his head. Maybe he was over-thinking things. Hiccup was probably just as stressed as everyone else, but Jack couldn't see Hiccup letting something like that affect his grades.

Jack eventually decided that Merida was probably right in saying that he should just talk to Hiccup about it before assuming the worst, but he couldn't shake the feeling that they were missing something.

* * *

Because no other attacks were made on the school, when Sunday morning came Professor North announced that the students were free to return to their dormitories. The declaration was met with lots of cheering and plenty of smiles. Everyone was happy to have an actual bed again.

The four left the Great Hall together, smiling, talking, and joking. They were all making bets as to who would win the Quidditch Cup at the end of the year, and Hiccup and Rapunzel were surprisingly determined to convince Jack and Merida that their House teams had a chance at winning.

"Come on, the only real competition Slytherin has had in, like, five years is Gryffindor." Jack chuckled at the indignant looks he was getting from the Ravenclaw and the Hufflepuff.

"Fair point. Hufflepuff hasn't had a very good record in recent years, yes, but Eric convinced Kristoff and Marina to join the Quidditch team this year. Even Kenai is worried about Marina playing this year!" Rapunzel argued.

"While that's true, Marina is out of practice since she took a break after that nasty fall during her third year. And Kristoff may have natural talent, but he hasn't got the training to stand a chance against Camicazi and Eep." Merida retaliated.

"Yeah, well, Ravenclaw has Gogo. She's the fastest Seeker out of all the teams, Captain Amelia said so!" Hiccup pointed out.

"But it's just like I said before, experience beats raw talent every time. Camicazi has caught a Snitch mid-game at least six times. Gogo has only played two games!" Merida disagreed.

"But she did catch the Snitch both times." Jack admitted begrudgingly. Hiccup whooped and Rapunzel clapped happily at finally convincing Jack, but Merida whirled around and glared at him playfully.

"Who's side are you on, anyway?" She demanded good-naturedly.

"Um... All of the above?" Jack scratched the back of his head sheepishly, and the other three laughed.

"Hiccup!" A voice suddenly cut through the air and the four paused to look at its source.

Guy Nomad, a second-year Ravenclaw, came running down the staircase and stopped right in front of the four younger students. His eyes fell on his House-mate. "I'm glad I found you. Professor Sandman sent me; the first-year rooms have been ransacked!"

Hiccup's eyes widened and he looked at Jack, Merida, and Rapunzel before the five students all started running towards the Ravenclaw tower. When they reached the very top of the highest tower, they were greeted by a door with a knocker in the shape of an eagles head, but no handle. Guy and Hiccup stepped forward, and the knocker came to life, squinting at them with a narrowed gaze.

"They come out at night without being called, and are lost in the day without being stolen. What are they?" The knocker asked in a hissing voice.

"Stars." Hiccup answered immediately.

Jack looked at the girls, bewildered, and mouthed to them silently. "What?"

The door swung open with a loud creak, and the five students hurried through. They ran straight through the circular common room to the stairs that presumably lead to the dormitories, but Jack was just following Hiccup and Guy, so he didn't actually know.

The dorms had an entirely wooden interior, except for the marble flooring, which gave made the room feel almost like an owlry in nature. Hiccup darted to the back of the room and dipped behind some bunk-beds. The others followed him, getting strange looks from the other Ravenclaw first-years that were assessing the damage done to their possessions.

Hiccup's bed was set off from the others, placed in a small square space that went further into the wall than the rest of the room. The tiny space was two steps above the normal floor level, and a double-door window was centered on the back wall with a small ledge that could be used as a seat, but that was all the space had to offer.

Like the rest of the dormitory, Hiccup's corner was pretty much destroyed. His bedding was torn apart and strewn across the room, his possessions were scattered everywhere, and his trunk had been pulled half-way out from underneath his bed.

Hiccup started to clean up and examine his things to see if anything was broken or missing, and Jack, Merida, and Rapunzel rushed to help him. A few books had torn pages, and one of the pieces of Hiccup's Astronomy telescope had been knocked out of place, but Hiccup said he could fix the telescope mechanism fairly easily.

Once they had checked everything that had been damaged and nothing had been stolen, they began cleaning up the mess that the intruder had left behind. That was the moment Professor Sandman, the head of Ravenclaw, and Professor North appeared in the dormitory. The professors thanked Guy for his help and told him to take a break. They continued on to speak with several students, making their way through the room, and eventually approached the four to speak with Hiccup.

"None of you are hurt, yes?" Professor North asked. They all nodded that they were okay. "Good. I have spoken with Professor Lunar, he has decided that the school shall help to fix or replace anything that was stolen or damaged, and if there is anything else that we, as professors, can help with, please speak with us." North told Hiccup and then moved on to relay the message to more of the first-years.

As soon as both professors were out of hearing-range, Hiccup whirled around to face them.

"The book is _gone_!" Hiccup hissed quietly.

"What?" Merida's eyes widened with disbelief.

"I left it at buried the bottom of my trunk underneath my bed, but it's gone now. All that was left was this." Hiccup held out his hand, and cupped in his palm was a small pile of strange, black sand.

"What is that?" Rapunzel wondered softly.

"I don't know." Hiccup replied grimly, picking up a glass jar from the ground and letting the sand slip from his palm into the container.

"I don't know what it is, but you know what it reminds me of?" Jack asked, taking the jar from Hiccup after the lid had been screwed on so he could get a better look at it. The others gave him curious looks as he turned the jar this way and that, peering at the sand inside. "The horse that attacked us that night in the Forbidden Forest. It's the same color, and it has the same weird kind of shimmer that the horse had."

"Of course!" Hiccup said, his eyes lighting up as his quick mind started to put all of the pieces together. "The same creature must of destroyed the dormitory looking for the book because we were getting too close to figuring something out, and it probably left this stuff behind without noticing."

"But it'd have to be pretty stupid to leave behind such a big piece of evidence, and I don't think something so dimwitted would think to do this on its own. Someone must have sent it, so the question is: Who?" Merida pointed out, making all four of them lapse into a thoughtful silence.

After a long moment, Rapunzel spoke up, breaking the silence. "If that horse was able to do this, and get in and out of the castle without anyone noticing, who's to say it didn't do it more than once?"

Three pairs of eyes widened in realization all at once, and all four exchanged the same horrified gaze.

"Mavis."


	15. Truth and Kindness

**Chapter 15: Truth and Kindness**

"I think we should find this creature. It's attacking students, and the teachers have no idea that this _thing_ is doing it!" Merida voiced her opinion.

"But the teachers have been searching the school grounds non-stop. If that horse-thing was anywhere to be found, I think they would have found it by now." Jack argued.

"Well, we can't just sit here and let that thing terrorize the school until the teachers finally catch on!" Merida exclaimed.

Hiccup rubbed his nose thoughtfully. "Both are good arguments, but we're making some pretty big assumptions with the horse-creature and Mavis's attack. I agree that things are getting too treacherous to sit around waiting for something to happen, but I also think that we need a little bit more evidence before we go chasing after an incredibly dangerous creature."

"Maybe we should talk to Mavis." Rapunzel suggested, silencing all bickering around the table. "I mean, we need to be certain that it was the horse-creature that attacked her, and if it did then maybe she saw something important that we could use... A weakness or something..." Rapunzel explained reasonably, offering a small smile to the group.

"Rapunzel makes an excellent point; Mavis could have seen something that could really help us." Hiccup agreed, and Rapunzel smiled brighter. "That being said; Mavis might not want to talk about it. She's a victim of a rather brutal attack, judging from her head injury, and it could potentially be a very sensitive topic."

"I guess all four of us running up and asking her questions wouldn't be the greatest of ideas." Jack scratched the back of his head thoughtfully.

"Only one of us should talk to her. You're in the same House as her, why don't you talk to her?" Merida punched Jack's shoulder and he suck his tongue out at her.

"I would, but she's been a good friend, and I would feel bad pestering her about it like everyone else..." Jack replied feebly. "I know it isn't a very good excuse, but I'm not very good with serious things anyways. I'd probably muck it all up by saying the wrong thing."

"Fine, what about you, Hiccup?" Merida turned to the other boy who promptly stiffened at being called on.

"I can't really blame him. I'm not very good with people." Hiccup blushed a little. "Anyways, I think Rapunzel should be the one to talk to Mavis."

"You do?" Rapunzel's eyes widened slightly.

"Well, yes. You are the most likable out of the four of us, at least, I haven't met a single person who doesn't like you. I think she'd be most comfortable if it were you." Hiccup told the Hufflepuff.

"Yeah!" Jack suddenly grinned. "And you're so nice, too. You'll be able to handle this better than any of us ever could."

Rapunzel blushed deeply at the compliment, flattered. "Well, if you all think I should..." She smiled shyly.

"Then it's settled. Rapunzel will talk to Mavis and try to find out what really happened that night." Merida nodded to the other girl, and Rapunzel hoped she would be able to do as well as her friends thought she could.

* * *

Rapunzel fidgeted nervously in her seat, her eyes trailing after Mavis from behind the safety of an open book. The Slytherin girl was looking at some books on one of the shelves, and Rapunzel had no idea how this was supposed to work. Was she just supposed to walk up and ask? Or was she supposed to be secretive and try to get Mavis to tell her without saying anything outright?

"Is there a reason why you keep looking over at that Slytherin girl?" Rapunzel blushed and turned to look at the source of the voice that was speaking to her.

Violet Parr, a fellow Hufflepuff, was sitting beside her at the table. Violet was a shy, introverted girl, so she tended to stray off by herself rather than linger around other people, but Rapunzel would often sit next to her in class and they would talk.

When Rapunzel had entered the library looking for Mavis, she almost immediately spotted the Slytherin girl and chickened out, so she hurried over to Violet and asked her fellow Hufflepuff if she could join her.

"I'm sorry." Rapunzel sighed. "It's just... I want to know if she's okay, and I don't know how to ask without offending her..."

Violet shrugged with a small smile. "I've talked to Mavis before. She's pretty cool about that stuff. I really don't think you need to worry."

"Really?" Rapunzel asked hopefully.

"Yeah." Violet said as if it were obvious. "I would have thought your Slytherin friend would have told you that; whenever he's not with you and your others friends he's usually with Mavis. I guess that doesn't happen a lot, though..." Violet's expression turned thoughtful and Rapunzel chuckled.

"Jack said she was nice, but I couldn't help worrying. I don't want her to get offended or anything." Rapunzel admitted.

"That's understandable." Violet nodded, and then she shrugged again. "Look at it this way; even if she does get mad the worst she can do is punch you in the face."

Rapunzel paled and her stomach leaped into her throat, making Violet giggle hysterically.

"I'm kidding!" She laughed, gently pushing Rapunzel towards the Slytherin. "She's nice enough and pretty level-headed, too. You'll be fine."

"If you say so..." Rapunzel murmured. She looked towards Mavis, who had moved on from the bookshelf to a table in the back corner, and took a deep breath. As Rapunzel released the breath she walked calmly towards the table, lifting her chin high to project confidence.

When she reached to table, her confidence died slightly. "Uh, Mavis?" She squeaked, and then cleared her throat to get rid of the itchy feeling there.

Mavis looked up from her book, and she actually smiled. "Hey, Rapunzel. What's up?"

"Oh, I was just wondering if you're doing alright. I know a lot of people are probably bothering you about it, and I don't mean to pry, but I wanted to make sure you were okay..." Rapunzel babbled a little bit, but Mavis smiled again.

"Trust me, everyone here combined is nothing compared to my dad! He gets so overprotective. You know, he almost took me out of school? I thought for sure I was going home, but then Professor North managed to calm him down enough to see reason again." Mavis chuckled at the memory. "You get it, though, right?" She asked, looking at Rapunzel curiously.

"Get what?" Rapunzel questioned, uncertainty clear on her face.

"Well, your parents must be even more strict than my dad, you being a princess and all." Mavis pointed out, and Rapunzel looked thoughtful.

"I guess I haven't really had the chance to notice. I never left Corona until I came here, so my parents were always there to watch over me." Rapunzel shrugged.

"I know what you mean. They mean well, but sometimes it can just feel really..." Mavis trailed off, looking for the right word.

"Overwhelming." Rapunzel nodded knowingly.

"Exactly." The two girls giggled together, and then Rapunzel smiled.

"Look, Mavis... I was just wondering if you remembered anything from your attack..." Rapunzel tested gently, and Mavis gave her a confused look.

"Well, it's pretty blurry, but I remember most of it..." Mavis told her, and then she leaned in closer, lowering her voice as she pushed a stray lock of hair back behind her ear. "The Four of you aren't going to do anything crazy, are you? You, Jack, and your other friends?"

"Oh, well..." Rapunzel chuckled nervously. "I guess that kind of depends on what you tell me..."

Mavis hesitated, but after a moment she seemed to come to some sort of conclusion and nodded. "Okay, but just try not to get into too much trouble. I don't want anyone getting hurt because of something I said." Mavis worried, and Rapunzel nodded enthusiastically. Mavis sighed. "I was leaving the Slytherin common room when I heard something strange. I looked around and saw a shadowed figure disappear behind a corner. I called after them, but the figure didn't answer, so I followed them. I go around the corner and the next thing I know, everything feels dark and I got scared, but I don't even know why... And then I saw something. It was black and shimmery, and it looked like a horse. It had beady yellow eyes and an awful shriek... That thing charging at me is the last thing I can remember..." Mavis shuddered a little, and then she put on a small, brave smile when Rapunzel touched her shoulder comfortingly. "I'm okay." The Vampire assured her. "I never did get a good look at that figure I was following, but if I were you, I wouldn't go messing with that weird horse-thing. Let the teachers handle it."

"I'll definitely keep that in mind." Rapunzel murmured as a million thoughts started racing through her head.

* * *

Later that afternoon the Four met at their usual spot in the library. Rapunzel told them everything that Mavis had told her about the figure and the shadow-horse.

"So we were right!" Merida said excitedly once Rapunzel had finished.

"Whatever that thing is, it must be hiding out in the dungeons." Jack added.

"That must be why the teachers can't find it." Hiccup's eyes lit up. "The dungeons are a giant labyrinth. The tunnels go as far as two hundred feet below sea-level, and I've heard that some of them get filled up with water when the tide comes in."

"Some of the older Slytherins were trying to scare all of us the first few weeks of school by telling us ghost stories about students that have died down there from either drowning or starvation after getting lost in the tunnels. They tried to convince us that the stories were true and that's why the students are banned from the lower dungeons..." Jack nodded, looking a little more serious.

"Are you scared?" Merida asked teasingly.

"No!" Jack replied hotly as his cheeks turned pink. "I'm just saying that Professor Bunnymund never actually confirmed if the stories were real or not..."

"Oh, please! You're just trying to scare us!" Merida scoffed. "You don't actually think these stupid rumors are true... Do you?" Merida was a little uncertain after taking note of Rapunzel and Hiccup's frightened expressions.

"I don't know... Would the teachers ban students from the tunnels if no one ever got hurt down there?" Rapunzel looked at the other three, but they seemed just as unsure as she was.

"Well, rumors or not, we still have to find out where this horse-creature is hiding in the tunnels. If we find it's hiding spot then we can tell the teachers and let them handle it." Jack offered a little lamely, but the others did relax a bit.

"The only way we're going to figure out anything is if we go down into the dungeons and find the answers for ourselves." Merida declared, announcing what was nagging everyone at the back of their minds.

There was silence for a few moments, and then Hiccup sighed. "Alright." He nodded. "Tonight, during the feast, we'll sneak away and go down to the dungeons together. We can meet at the bottom of the stairs just down the hall from where Mavis was attacked."

The others nodded in agreement, but a feeling of nervous excitement had settled over the four students. They weren't sure what they would find down there, they could only hope that whatever it was didn't find them first...


	16. Into the Dark

**Chapter 16: Into The Dark**

The castle halls were empty and quiet. Jack tiptoed down the corridor towards the meeting spot, glancing around every few minutes to make sure no one was around. Not that he was worried; dinner was probably in full-swing by now with everyone digging into their first servings, but he figured better to be safe than sorry.

He turned the corner and was only a little surprised to see Rapunzel and Merida already waiting for him. "You two got down here fast." He commented.

"The Hufflepuff commons are here on the lower floors, so I didn't have much trouble sneaking over here." Rapunzel explained.

"Yeah, I left a little earlier, saying I wanted to find a book in the library to help me study for our final exam in Charms. I didn't want to risk anyone getting suspicious or anything when all four of us disappeared right before dinner." Merida told them, and Jack nodded.

"I'll admit that was pretty smart of you." Jack informed her.

At that moment, Hiccup appeared at the top of the stairs. His hair was ruffled and falling into his face and his clothes were slightly rumpled as if he'd been running. He winced when he saw them. "Sorry to keep you guys waiting." He apologized as he hurried down the steps to join them. "There's only one really long and really narrow stairwell in Ravenclaw tower. Sneaking out isn't very easy."

"Don't worry, we weren't waiting very long, and Jack just got here." Rapunzel smiled.

"But we should hurry. Who knows when the teachers will notice that we're missing." Merida cautioned, and the others nodded in agreement.

Jack lead the way down into the dungeons, knowing the area the best because of staying in the Slytherin common rooms. The stone walls steadily became colder and damper the farther they went down into the shadows of the tunnels. Eventually the four came to a narrow stairway. The stone bricks that made up the short set of steps were rough and worn, obviously old and without much care within it's past years. It lead down to a single door made of thick wood with black iron bars for a window and a big iron loop for a handle.

"Is that it then?" Merida's voice cracked as she stared at the large, intimidating door at the bottom of the steps, but she quickly cleared her throat and nodded with determination. "Right. Let's go!"

The others watched as she marched down the first few steps, and then slowly began to follow. It took all four of them together to pull open the heavy door, and when they finally managed to get it open it's hinges made a loud and unpleasant groan that made them wince.

"Well, that's not creepy at all." Hiccup remarked, looking down the dark tunnel that stretched out in front of them. "Do... Do you guys hear that?"

"I can't see or hear a thing down there." Rapunzel's eyes were filled with worry as she watched the shadows in the tunnel suspiciously.

"Lumos." Hiccup muttered, and suddenly the tip of his wand was glowing with a gentle white light. The shadows peeled away from the tiny gleam, and their path seemed a little less treacherous than before.

"Thanks." Merida said to Hiccup as she, Jack, and Rapunzel reached for their own wands and repeated the incantation.

"Don't thank me yet." Hiccup told her, trying to peer deeper into the tunnel. "I think that sound is coming from somewhere in there."

"Well." Rapunzel gulped. "We didn't come this far just to turn back, right?" The others nodded.

Four little lights traveled down the tunnel, moving slowly and cautiously as the dampness of the dungeon's tunnels seeped into their clothes. The tunnel eventually stopped on one side, revealing a short path that ended at a small set of stairs. Below them was a much bigger tunnel that stretched out in front of them and back the way they had come, but on a different path that most likely lead deeper into the tunnels.

"Which way do you think we should go?" Merida asked, reaching out and feeling the rough stone of the old tunnel.

Jack knelt down and touched one of the puddles with just the tip of his finger. He smelled it, and then turned to Rapunzel who was standing next to him, watching him curiously.

"It's fresh water. Means that all this moisture came in through the cracks of the tunnel from the dirt underneath the castle." Jack explaining, standing and brushing his hand off on his trousers. "If these tunnels do fill up with ocean water, this isn't one of them."

"That's good to know." Rapunzel gave a small smile and relaxed just a little bit.

"There it is again." Hiccup suddenly perked up, and his eyes lit up. "Can't you hear it?"

They all stopped and listened closely, trying to hear the sound that Hiccup kept telling them about, but the only thing Jack could hear was a dripping sound echoing from somewhere in the tunnel.

"I -I hear it." Rapunzel whispered as her eyes widened. She whirled to face the side of the tunnel that went forward, raising her wand a little bit in the hopes that it would help her to see better. "It's coming from down there."

The four students hurried down the tunnel, and the farther they went the louder the sounds became until all of them could hear it. Jack thought it sounded like sand running in an hourglass, or fine pebbles being panned around a steel pot. It was shifting and grating.

Nervous gazes were exchanged between everyone in the group, and then they continued to creep forward as the shifting sound got louder and louder. They turned a corner and found an opening before them. The opening lead to a ledge high above the room below them, which was roughly the same size as the Great Hall only it was circular in shape. The walls were dotted with at least a dozen more openings leading to new tunnels and passages.

But the barren center piece of the giant labyrinth they had willingly entered into was the last thing on their minds because below them were hundreds of shadowy horse-creatures, rearing and shrieking. They stalked about the edges of the chamber as others fought with sharp hooves and nasty snarls in the center of the circular hall.

Hundreds of piercing yellow eyes that weren't even looking at them had the four first-years paralyzed by their fear, crouching on the ledge as they tried very hard to not even breathe at that moment. They kept as low to the ground as they possibly could and eased themselves back until they were tucked safely within the shadows just inside the tunnel and out of sight.

"What do we do?" Rapunzel asked panicked, her voice barely even a whisper.

"I don't know, I wasn't expecting an entire army of those things!" Merida whispered back as quietly as she could.

"Those things could destroy the school..." Hiccup breathed, peeking out to stare down at the massive herd.

"We have to get back to Great Hall and warn Professor North. He's the Deputy Headmaster, he'll know what to do." Jack tried to keep his voice steady, but he was gripping his staff so tightly that his hands shook slightly.

"Jack's right. We have to tell the teachers." Rapunzel agreed.

The four started to pick their way back into the tunnel they had come from, but they didn't even make it five steps before the shadows began to move around them. The stagnant air scented with mold and mildew suddenly blew in a cold breeze, making them shiver as fear ran up their spines.

Three giant horses took shape right in front of them, huffing loudly and staring them down with empty, dead eyes. The children froze, gazing up at the dark creatures before them with wide, terrified eyes.

The lead horse reared onto it's back legs, kicking out at the students as it shrieked angrily. The four lunged to either side of the horse as it's powerful hooves struck the ground where they had been standing.

"RUN!" Jack shouted, pushing Merida onto her feet as they slipped out of the way just as a second horse's teeth gnashed together right behind Jack's arm.

They rushed towards the tunnel opening, but skidded to a stop when they got there. Rapunzel grabbed onto Hiccup's cloak and pulled him back when she saw his toes hanging off the edge of the sheer drop.

"There's nowhere to go!" Rapunzel cried as two pebbles fell from the unstable ledge.

"We have to jump!" Merida said, glancing back at the fast approaching horses.

"What?!" Hiccup paled, but Merida ran forward and pushed them off the ledge, Jack right on her heels.

"JUMP!" She screamed.

The ground sloped at the bottom of the drop, so they still hit the ground rather hard, but they continued to roll down into the center of the chamber. When they finally stopped, Jack slowly pushed himself up and looked for the others.

"Is everyone okay?" He asked, choking a bit on the dust they had raised with their fall.

"I think so." Rapunzel rubbed her head, but gave a tiny nod.

"I landed in a puddle." Hiccup grumbled as his school uniform stuck to him uncomfortably.

"You guys, look!" Merida cried, pointing up at the ledge.

The three horses stalked about restlessly on the ledge, and then suddenly they started racing towards them through the air, their wispy manes and tails trailing behind them as streams of black sand. The four dove into a huddle together as the horses raced around them in a confusion of black sand, small scratches, and wild shrieks.

And then it stopped. The three horses disappeared into three of the many tunnels surrounding them, and everything was quiet.

"Is -is it over?" Rapunzel dared to whisper as the four slowly rose from the tiny huddle they had created on the floor.

"Huh, w-well that wasn't so bad." Merida breathed, her hands shaking. "Nothing but a few scratches and a bit of dirt from the fall."

"But where did they all go?" Hiccup wanted to know. "There were hundreds of them, and now they're just...gone."

Jack knelt by another puddle and collected just a tiny drop on his finger, smelling the water and even tasting it.

"Ew, why would you do that? You could get sick, or something." Merida wrinkled her nose at his actions.

"I'd rather catch a cold in a few days than drown tonight, wouldn't you?" Jack smirked at the redhead, who huffed at him in response. "It's still fresh water. I'm starting to wonder if these tunnels even connect with the sea at all."

"I don't mean to be rude, Jack, but shouldn't we worry more about getting back to warn the teachers instead of whether a few rumors are true or not?" Rapunzel suggested quietly, wringing her fingers nervously.

"I agree with Punzie. Let's get out of here." Merida said, wrapping her arms around herself as she shivered.

"I think I can fly you guys up one at a time with my staff. I've never flown with another person before, but I've seen some of the teachers do it once or twice..." Jack offered, looking up at the ledge high above them.

"It's our best option right now, I say we take it." Hiccup nodded.

"Oh, but then you'd miss all the fun." A voice echoed across the walls of the chamber, making the children whirl around to look for the source only to see nothing.

"Who's there? Show yourself!" Jack shouted, his staff at the ready and the others standing beside him.

A shadow moved across the wall, looming over the children in the shape of a man. The shadow laughed loudly and then shrunk into the darkness of the tunnel straight across from them. A man stepped forward, the shadows pealing from his skin as if he had been a physical part of them. His eyes gleamed a vicious yellow, and his teeth were sharpened to a point. His grey skin and dark clothes mingled with the shadows that moved with every step he took.

"Hello, Jackson." The man grinned mercilessly.

The four gasped, and Jack's eyes widened.

"Pitch Black."


	17. The Guardians

**Chapter 17: The Guardians**

Bunnymund's eyes frantically looked around the Great Hall, searching for the two brunettes that were such a big pain in his tail, the really long braid of golden locks, and the wild mane of curly craziness. They hadn't come in with the rest of the first-years, and the younger students were always the first ones to make it to dinner because they didn't have nearly as much studying to do as the older children. Bunnymund figured they would turn up when he was half-way through his meal, and he would be the unfortunate soul who found whatever prank the two boys had come up with this time, but dinner was now almost over and he still hadn't seen one glimpse of any of them.

His immediate reaction was to keep calm and try to locate the four troublesome youth on his own _quietly_ , but with the recent attacks and worries of Dark Magic, Bunnymund wasn't willing to risk it.

"North, we need to talk." Bunnymund announced seriously, walking up to the Deputy Headmaster who stood talking to Toothiana on the dais.

"Bunny, what's wrong?" The large man asked him, his Russian accent as thick as ever.

Bunnymund nodded to Toothiana and then addressed North again. "We may have some trouble on our hands -"

"Excuse me?" All three professors turned to look at the source of the quiet voice. Dracula's daughter, Mavis, stood before them, fidgeting nervously as she glanced about the room before returning her gaze to the teachers.

"Mavis, are you all right? Do you have another headache?" Toothiana asked gently, resting a comforting hand on the girl's shoulder.

"No, I'm fine. It's just that... Well, I..." She bit her lip uncertainly, and Bunnymund and North glanced at each other before looking at the young Slytherin again.

"Come on, whatever it is we can help." Bunnymund encouraged, and Mavis looked up at them.

"Rapunzel came to me yesterday in the library. She asked me about the attack, and I told her what I told all of you. I said it was dangerous, and that she and her friends should leave it to the teachers, but I don't see any of them anywhere... I'm worried they might be looking for the thing that attacked me." Mavis admitted, looking incredibly worried and a little guilty. Bunnymund felt his stomach drop, and the looked on Toothiana and North's faces suggested they felt similarly.

"Find Sandman." North ordered, his expression turning hard. "We're going down into the dungeons!"

* * *

"Pitch Black." Jack murmured, his eyes as wide as dinner plates as the Dark Sorcerer across from them chuckled wickedly. Jack shook himself and tried to look unafraid. "How do you know my name?" He demanded.

"I know all of you. If it weren't for you four being so nosy, I would have carried out my plans to destroy the Guardians once and for all by now. But you all just had to get in my way. The Guardians were leaving themselves completely defenseless to my power just so they could continue on living in their time of peace, yet I couldn't get any stronger than I am now because I couldn't do anything without your four noticing!" Pitch sneered at them as one of the horse-creatures appeared next to him. "I can't say I'm terribly surprised, though. If it weren't for your goody-goody father, the Guardians never would have defeated me the first time!"

"My father?..." Jack froze, his staff lowering slightly as his expression softened.

"Percy Frost was the reason I was locked away for decades after that final battle with the Guardians!" Pitch snapped. "I was once the most feared man in the world, but after that day my reign of fear and darkness was overthrown by your Guardians light and hope." He spat the words disgustedly.

"And they'll do it again this time, you vile miscreant!" Merida shouted back, keeping a tight grip on her wand.

"Oh, such big words from such a small child, but you see, I've worked too hard to let four sniveling pests ruin everything before the real show can begin." Pitch chuckled lowly, petting the restless shadow-horse beside him. The creature stomped it's hoof, making the four students jump and shuffle closer together. Pitch noticed and laughed. "Do you like her? Took me a while to perfect this trick: turning dreams into nightmares."

"Nightmares?" Rapunzel whispered, gripping Hiccup's sleeve tightly in one hand while her other held her wand at the ready.

"Don't be nervous, it only riles them up. They can smell fear, you know." Pitch informed them with a sick smile.

"And who says we're afraid of you?" Merida wanted to, raising her chin a little higher.

"Oh, trust me. You will be." Pitch laughed at them as he disappeared back into the shadows, letting his Nightmares come forward, out of the tunnel. They snorted and pounded their hooves against the ground restlessly as they stalked towards the cowering cluster of children.

"What do we do?" Hiccup asked, his eyes moving rapidly across each of the Nightmares as they got closer and closer, their eyes glowing menacingly and teeth gritting angrily.

Jack looked around as well, looking for any kind of opening as the four backed away from the approaching Nightmares. His eyes landed on something just a little bit to the left behind them, and his heart lifted slightly.

"This way!" He shouted, motioning for the others to follow him as he dove for the only tunnel that was still open. The others were right on his heels, and the Nightmares shrieked furiously before launching after them.

The sounds and vibrations of the Nightmare's hooves stomping against the ground filled Jack's senses as they ran down the narrow tunnel to avoid the horde of darkness behind them. Merida gave a small scream when a set of teeth chomped down right next to her elbow, and Jack tripped when he looked back to see what had happened, but he managed to stay upright and keep moving.

"Hurry! They're catching up!" Rapunzel cried as the all ducked around a turn that left the Nightmares fumbling over each other.

"Those things can't take turns!" Hiccup noted, sounding intrigued by the new discovery.

"Yeah, it's great. Now let's focus on using this opportunity to put as much distance between us and those Nightmares as possible!" Jack called back.

The four came to a break in the tunnel that opened up to three different paths to choose from. Each tunnel looked exactly the same, and the shadows kept them from seeing what awaited them down each tunnel.

"Which way should we go?" Jack asked frantically, looking behind them as a shriek echoed from further down the tunnel.

"Better chose fast." Merida commented as Hiccup and Rapunzel stepped away from the tunnel they'd just exited.

Growling split the air, but before the kids could do anything a smaller Nightmare, about the size of a hunting dog, leaped from the tunnel on their right and took Rapunzel to the ground. Rapunzel screamed as she hit the ground, the Nightmare landing beside her, and the Nightmare leaped at her again, looking to sink it's teeth into Rapunzel's flesh.

"Verdimillious!" Green light shot from Hiccup's wand and knocked the Nightmare away while it was still in the air from it's jump at Rapunzel. The whining and whimpering that followed suggested he had done some form of damage to the thing and it melted back into the shadows with a snarl.

"Punzie!" Jack said as he and Merida ran to help her up.

"Are you all right?" Merida asked her, helping the other girl to dust off a bit.

"I think so." Rapunzel offered a shaky smile. "Thanks, Hiccup."

"Don't mention it." Hiccup blushed lightly. "Come on, I think we should go this way." He said, pointing to the center tunnel that was offset to the left. "I hear water, and I think I have an idea."

Jack looked at the girls, shrugged, and then hurried to follow Hiccup down the tunnel as the echoing noise of the fast moving Nightmares got louder and louder behind them. Hiccup, as always, turned out to be right because at the end of the tunnel was a river with paths running parallel to it on either side, and Hiccup grinned at the sight.

"Okay, now what?" Merida wanted to know.

"Jack, do you think you can freeze the floor?" Hiccup raised an eyebrow at the Winter Sprite, and Jack became curious...

After just a minute or two of going over the plan, Jack was standing with his back pressed against the wall at the opening of the tunnel, the rushing river right in front of him. Hiccup, Merida, and Rapunzel were a few feet inside the tunnel, waiting for the Nightmares. They could hear the snorting and gnashing of teeth just a little ways up the tunnel.

"There they are!" Rapunzel suddenly yelped.

"Run!" Merida barked, and not even a second later Jack could hear the pounding of his friend's feet followed by the stomping hooves that chased them. Merida and Rapunzel flew around the corner first with Hiccup right on their heels.

"Jack, now!" Hiccup shouted the second he came around the bend.

Jack let the crook of his staff hit the floor and ice spread out over the ground in fern-like patterns. He had to focus a bit more than he usually did because he'd never made solid ice before; only frost and a tiny bit of snow once.

Sweat collected on Jack's brow, but when the Nightmares exploded out of the tunnel their hooves slipped and slid across the ice. The Nightmares fumbled over each other just like they had before, but this time the ice sent them falling into the river. The Nightmares shrieked as they were swept away by the current, and the four students cheered with happiness and relief.

"We did it!" Rapunzel exclaimed.

"Yeah!" Jack laughed, wiping the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve.

"Come on, you guys!" Merida nudged Hiccup's arm and then pointed at the tunnel with her thumb. "We can get back and tell the professors now!"

"Let's go!" Rapunzel agreed.

They all hurried back into the tunnel, mindful of Jack's ice, and then ran the rest of the way back down the path they had come from. None of them worried much when they didn't even hear a single Nightmare on their way back to the large chamber because they were too relieved and hopeful to think of what Pitch and his other Nightmares might be doing.

They reached the main chamber, and they didn't stop running until they stood at the base of the wall that lead up to their exit.

"Let's get out of here." Jack grinned, looking at the others to see who would come up with him first.

"Leaving already?" The loud, amused voice that echoed across the chamber made all four of them whirl around, forming a circle with each of them facing the outside. "But the fun is only just starting!"

Nightmares appeared from every direction, every nook and cranny, even from the cracks in the stone walls. Pitch revealed himself at the opening at the top of the wall just above the four, and Jack glared up at him.

Pitch laughed as he rode his Nightmare down to the center of the chamber, looking at the four children as if they were his prey to play with before consuming them completely. It made Jack shiver at the thought.

"I do love a good chase! You four put up quite a challenge, you actually surprised me. But enough games. Once you four are out of the way then the real fun can begin." Pitch grinned maliciously.

"I don't see any way out this time." Jack murmured, looking around desperately.

"I don't think there's going to be one." Hiccup whispered back.

"Well, I say we should at least put up a good fight, don't you?" Rapunzel asked, looking rather terrified, but she kept a firm hold on her wand.

"Aye, I'm not going down that easily." Merida added stubbornly as the four made their circle as small as possible, standing back to back with each other.

"Together, then." Jack widened his stance, ready for the Nightmares prancing anxiously around them.

"Together." Hiccup, Merida, and Rapunzel all nodded in unison.

"How touching." Pitch scoffed and rolled his eyes, disgusted. "Kill them."

The Nightmares shrieked again, and the noise made Jack wince. The horse-like creatures charged at them, and they braced themselves for the impact of the fight.

The Nightmare leading the attack lunged forward, ready to push Jack onto the ground and stomp on his stomach, but something shot through the creature made of black sand, making all of the other Nightmares pull back slightly and look around in confusion.

"Not today, Pitch!" Professor Bunnymund landed in front of the kids, and straightened with two boomerangs, one in each hand. Professors North, Toothiana, and Sandman followed, landing right next to Bunnymund as they faced Pitch.

"Professors!" Rapunzel gasped in relief.

"Take cover, children. We will handle Pitch." North told them, and they didn't need to be told twice. The four ran off to the side and took cover behind a very old, fallen piece of rock as the teachers faced Pitch and his Nightmares.

"You're going to protect them, are you? You old fool! Who's going to protect you?" Pitch mocked North as Sandman inspected the black sand that had been left behind by the Nightmare Professor Bunnymund had taken down. "Do you like it, Sandy?" Pitch nearly giggled with delight. "A new hobby of mine! Took a bit of practice, but I eventually managed to corrupt your Dream Sand. My Nightmares are at the peak of their strength thanks to your incompetence! You don't stand a chance against me!" Pitch declared, ordering his Nightmares forward.

"Tooth, take the air! Sandy, the left! Bunny, right!" North shouted orders, and the professors met the Nightmares head on.

"Wings up, ladies! And take no prisoners!" Toothiana exclaimed as she and her fairies took to the air in an explosion of feathers and black sand.

Bunnymund, Sandman, and North cut down one Nightmare after another without faltering or stumbling. Nightmare after Nightmare fell to sword, boomerang, fairy magic, or Dream Sand, but no matter how many Nightmares they destroyed, two more would always take it's place.

"North, there's too many!" Bunnymund called as he ran along the wall, taking down Nightmares as he went while three more chased after him.

"Tooth, Sandy! Take the children to safety!" North shouted.

"I'm a bit busy here!" Toothiana called back as she was surrounded by five Nightmares.

Sandy couldn't even respond because the Nightmares had turned into a dark ring that surrounded the small professor. He used whips made of Dream Sand to fight off the clawing tentacles of black magic.

"We have to do something!" Merida hissed urgently. "They're losing!"

"But what can we do? We only know a couple of spells, and none of them would do much." Rapunzel pointed out realistically.

"Then we'll just have to fight the old fashioned way!" Jack suggested.

"I don't think punching a Nightmare in the face like you did with Daren would be the best idea." Hiccup commented.

"Well we can't just sit here! We've come too far and done too much to just sit back and do nothing!" Merida declared.

"I agree, there has to be something we can do." Jack said, looking at each of their faces in the hopes of finding an answer.

"Hey, Jack?" Hiccup asked, and the others looked at him curiously. "Do you wanna build a snowman?"

Merida and Rapunzel looked utterly confused by the question, and Jack looked at Hiccup as if he were insane.

"Are you kidding me?" Jack shouted. "Even _I_ know now is not the time!"

"Think about it!" Hiccup told him firmly, rolling his eyes at Jack. "Pitch's Nightmares are feeding off of the fear from the school, so that must mean that Sandman's Dream Sand feeds off of positive feelings like happiness and laughter." Hiccup explained slowly.

"Are you telling us that we need to have fun?" Merida asked bluntly.

"Well, it's the best idea I've got, and I don't see any of you coming up with any bright ideas!" Hiccup retorted hotly.

"He has a point." Rapunzel agreed with him.

"Thank you." Hiccup thanked her, and Rapunzel smiled.

"Okay, fine! How do you have fun in this kind of situation?" Merida asked.

"I think I have an idea." Jack grinned. The boy brought his hands together and focused as hard as he could. Very slowly, snow began to form at the center, and after a huge effort and a little more sweat, Jack held a decent sized snowball in his hand.

"What on earth are you going to do with that?" Rapunzel wanted to know. Jack smirked mischievously as he blew on the ball of snow, coating it with ice, which happened to be a trick he had learned from his dad. His eyes drifted to the side and locked on Pitch.

"Oh, boy." Hiccup gulped.

Pitch rode forward on his Nightmare stead as several flanked his sides, and they surrounded the professors who were backing towards where the children were hiding. Jack stood, aimed, and threw the snowball.

"I can't tell you how much it means to me to see you all like this!" Pitch grinned. "Trapped and helpless against my pow-!"

The snowball hit Pitch Black right in the face.

Merida laughed as Rapunzel giggled, and Hiccup snorted while trying to keep from laughing. The professors looked back at them and found Jack standing on the top of his staff, grinning while the other three laughed and giggled at the adult's reactions.

"Insolent, half-witted..." Pitch growled, wiping the snow from his face.

"They're just bad dreams, guys." Jack said, looking back at the others. Hiccup, Merida, and Rapunzel grinned.

Six Nightmares charged at the children while the rest of the herd kept the professors from reaching them. Jack flipped backwards off of his staff and took a defensive stance, Rapunzel stumbled backwards with her wand raising, and Merida pointed her wand directly at the Nightmares, but Hiccup stepped forward and reached out a hand.

Golden light exploded from Hiccup's palm as the Nightmares made contact with it, turning the Nightmares back into Dream Sand. Hiccup released a breath, as if he'd been holding it for hours, and smiled with relief.

Jack flew straight up with his staff in one hand and made a Nightmare come to a screeching halt mid-air. He laid his hand on the Nightmare's forehead and the dark horse became a golden, happy dolphin that swam and flipped in the air.

Merida turned to the closest Nightmare and placed her hand on it's shoulder blade, and the creature changed shape until it became a hawk that soared into the air with an endless amount of grace.

Jack came back down laughing, and the four smiled at each other.

"Incredible." Professor North breathed, looking around and the dreams the children had created.

"No! Stop them!" Pitch shouted, and a larger Nightmare charged at them. This time, Rapunzel stepped forward and reached up, placing one hand on the Nightmare's chin while the other gently petted it's snout.

The Nightmare stayed mostly the same, but it's build became smaller, slimmer, and a horn grew from it's head as feathers wings sprouted from it's back. The golden horse turned and raised onto it's hind legs, kicking and pumping it's wings to scare off the Nightmares.

"What?" Pitch demanded. "How are you doing that?"

The children looked at each other, and Jack smirked, stepping forward. "It's gonna take more then a couple of bad dreams to scare us."

"You can't get rid of me that easily!" Pitch spat back at them. "There will always be fear! And with it, I will always have power!"

"So what?" North scoffed. "As long as _one child_ believes, we will be here to fight fear."

"You daft creatures! You think you can defeat me? I will -!" A colored egg landed at the hooves of the Nightmare Pitch was riding and exploded, scattering black sand everywhere and sending Pitch flying back until he hit the ground hard.

"We're taking you to the Ministry of Magic, Pitch. You're going to face trial for all your crimes." Toothiana told him, her mouth set in a firm frown.

The professors advanced towards Pitch, surrounding him as he backed away. Pitch growled, and then stood up straight, his yellow eyes glinting angrily.

"You may have won this battle, Guardians, but the war is far from over!" He shouted.

With that all of the fallen black sand collected in one giant whirlwind around Pitch and, after a moment, it collapsed in on itself just before exploding, sending the teachers and students flying backwards until they landed on the ground.

As Jack struggled to try and sit up with his ears ringing and vision a little fuzzy, he heard Merida's distressed shout.

"He's gone!"


	18. We Built This City

**Music:** "We Built This City" by Starship  


**Chapter 18: We Built This City**

News of what happened in the dungeon tunnels spread through the school like wild-fire, and word of Pitch Black's return made it to the Daily Prophet within a week. Luckily, the teachers were able to keep the children's involvement a secret from both the papers and the Ministry of Magic.

It had been three weeks since the ordeal itself, and Pitch hadn't been seen since. Everyone was fine after the battle, save a few cuts and scrapes, but nothing that wasn't quickly remedied. Final exams came and went for the whole school. Merida and Jack's grades averaged out to mostly A's and a couple of E's, Rapunzel managed a bit better with mostly E's and even a few O's, and Hiccup received almost entirely O's except in Flying in which he was given a D.

After the exams, their last week at Hogwarts was theirs to do with as they pleased. The four spent the whole time together, laughing, having fun, and remembering the better parts of the past year that made them smile. They were inseparable.

Their last day together finally came, and the four students were oddly quiet. They sat together during breakfast at the Ravenclaw table, and spent most of their day laying about because the only other thing to do was pack their things for the train ride back to Platform nine and three-quarters. None of them really wanted to think about leaving. Even though they all missed their homes and families, they didn't want to say goodbye to Hogwarts or each other.

It was just a little past the lunch hour when Professor North summoned them to his office. After the battle, North and the other professors had lectured them about how incredibly reckless they had been, but had relented a bit so the children could be looked over by the nurses. North had informed them late in that night that there was too much to do to worry about their punishment, so he let them go with a promise to return to the matter later after the larger issues had been resolved.

Jack wasn't particularly worried as Professor Toothiana lead them towards North's hidden office, after all, school was almost over for the year. It wasn't like North could keep them here just to serve detention... Right?

Professor Toothiana lead them to a statue of a griffin with it wings out and circling around the edge of it's enclosure within the wall. "Fruit Cake." The Fairy Queen said to the statue, and suddenly the figure began to turn as a stairwell lifted the griffin up and out of sight.

Professor Toothiana motioned for the children to follow, and they hurried up the spiral stairs to keep up with her. The stairs lead them to a large sitting room with several chairs, a coffee table with cookies, candies, and hot chocolate on it, and a fireplace. They turned to the right and followed red carpeting into a giant dome-like room, not too different from the chamber in the dungeons where they had faced Pitch.

An enormously big globe covered in millions of tiny lights spun slowly in the very center, and all around it was a bee-hive of balconies where big, furry Yeti's worked and tiny Miniature Elves got into mischief. There were so many doors and passageways within the workshop that Jack lost count, and toys and contraptions brought colorful life to the already exciting place. One such contraption flew past the balcony the four stood on, and Jack's eyes followed it in wonder.

"This is incredible." Rapunzel breathed, her smile so big that it reached up to her sparkling eyes.

"Ah, there they are!" Professor North appeared from a stairway off to the left of the main balcony and came over to them with Professors Bunnymund, Sandman, and Toothiana following.

"Professor." Hiccup greeted in return, sounding less than excited to see the Deputy Headmaster.

"Do not look so afraid." Professor North chuckled. "You are not in trouble."

"We're not?" Rapunzel's eyes widened in shock, and all four of them looked at each other in confusion.

"Well, we're not going to reward you for being as reckless as you were, but after everything you kids went through to protect this school and the other students, we've agreed that there's really no reason for punishment." Professor Toothiana explained with a gentle smile, and Professor Sandman nodded with a bright grin.

"What about Pitch?" Merida wanted to know. "Is he ever coming back?"

"Oh, you can bet on that." Professor Bunnymund nodded grimly. "But we'll be ready for him when he does."

Jack had already guessed as much after reading everything his father had to say about Pitch Black in his old journal, but what really bothered the young Slytherin was what Pitch had told them before setting his Nightmares after them.

His gaze drifted to the giant globe, wondering what it was and if it, too, had something to do with his father's past.

"Jack, is something wrong?" Professor North asked him, and Jack looked up at the large man, biting his lip. Jack did have some hesitations towards asking about his father, especially after all of the secrecy in the past year, but even Merida, Rapunzel, and Hiccup were looking at him worriedly, so he decided there was no hurt in asking.

"Did you... Was my father really a Guardian?" Jack finally asked, and each of the Guardians fell silent as their eyes widened slightly, but Professor North was calm as if he'd been expecting the question to come up at some point.

The large man sighed. "Yes, your father was chosen to be Guardian, just as we were all chosen: by Man in Moon." The Deputy Headmaster turned and raised his arm to an opening in the roof where the moon shone brightly even thought it was still mid-day.

"The Man in the Moon." Jack breathed. "He talks to you?"

"Well, Mim is the Headmaster of Hogwarts." Professor Toothiana shrugged.

"So, Mim is a nickname for the Man in the Moon, and the Man in the Moon is Headmaster Tsar Lunar." Hiccup spoke more to himself than anyone else as he was connecting the dots, but Professor North nodded anyways.

"Mim chose us, along with your father and others, to protect the children of this world from darkness." North explained.

"Percy was one of the best." Professor Bunnymund nodded to Jack, who looked up at the teachers with large, sad eyes. "Nearly beat North out for the role of leader after we defeated Pitch, but he decided to go home to your mom instead."

"But why didn't he ever tell me?" Jack wondered. He still felt as if he was missing half of everything that was important to his family.

"He never meant to hide it from you, Jack." Toothiana placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"Tooth is right. Percy would never lie to you or your mom, but this being a Guardian can be dangerous. You kids only got a small taste of it that night in the dungeons." Bunnymund's arms were crossed and his eyes seemed to be looking at something much farther away than Jack's face.

Professor Sandman began making pictures with his Dream Sand above his head, smiling and nodding as he tried to get his point across, but the images were moving to fast for Jack to understand.

"Uh..." Jack looked to the others uncertainly.

"Thanks, Professor, I know you're probably trying to help, but we really can't understand what you're trying to say..." Rapunzel tried to say as politely as she possibly could. Sandman sighed understandingly, and looked at the others to translate.

"Sandy says that your father was only trying to protect the people that mattered most to him. Your mother was very worried about him during the war back then, he didn't want to scare his family like that again. Especially after you and your sister were born." Toothiana supplied, and Jack sighed.

"I understand. I just wish I had known him better..." Jack explained weakly. "We were so close, but now I feel like I didn't know him at all."

The Guardians were quiet for a long moment before North's eye caught on to something and he smiled. He reached over and picked up a large wooden nesting doll.

"Here. This is how you see me, no?" North asked, showing the doll to the four children as he chuckled. "Very big, intimidating. But if you get to know me a little..." He nearly shoved the doll into Jack's hand as the boy handed his staff to Hiccup. "Well, go on." He probed.

Jack glanced at the others, a little doubtful and confused, but opened the doll to reveal a slightly smaller one that was grinning so widely it's cheeks were painted red and it's eyes were friendly.

"You're downright jolly?" Jack drawled and added a smirk at the end.

"But not. Just. Jolly!" North exclaimed. "I am also _mysterious_... And Fearless... And caring..."

Jack continued to reveal each new doll as North spoke, Merida, Rapunzel, and Hiccup peering over his shoulder curiously as he did, until finally only one remained.

"And at my Center..." North held out his palm, and Jack let the finally doll fall out onto the teacher's hand.

"There's a tiny wooden baby." Jack said dryly, rubbing his forehead.

"Look closer!" North insisted. "What do you see?"

Jack looked at the others for a clue, but they looked as lost as he was, and he shook his head as he looked at the little wooden figure. "I -I... You have big eyes."

"YES!" North shouted, making all four of the students jump slightly. "Big eyes. Very big! Because they are full of wonder!" North grabbed Jack by the shoulders and told him. He let Jack go to walk towards the globe, and Jack's gaze followed him with a grin lighting up his face. "That is my Center. It is what I was born with: eyes that have always seen the wonder in everything! Eyes that see lights in the trees, and magic in the air."

Merida nudged Jack, and suddenly North's workshop seemed brighter than before with flying contraptions floating on the air around the globe and the lights gleaming gently with their golden light.

"This wonder is what I put into the world! And what I protect in children. It is what makes me a Guardian." North turned back to the children. "It is my Center. Each of us has something special inside of us!" North motioned to the other Guardians. "As do each of you." He turned to the four as they looked at each other with varying looks of curiosity and smiles.

"Your father's Center was friendship. What is yours?" North questioned Jack.

Jack sighed and looked down. "I don't know."

"It isn't something that you find out easily." Toothiana said comfortingly. "It took an entire war for all of us to find ours."

"Ah, Tooth is right." North nodded, looking somewhat sheepish. "There is no rush, but I do hope you will come to us the next time you think there is a Dark Sorcerer hiding in the dungeons, yeah?"

It was the students turn to look sheepish as they laughed nervously and scratched the back of their heads. Bunnymund came up beside them and placed a hand on one of Jack's shoulder and the other on Hiccup's.

"I hope that with everything that's happened, you boys will have grown up a little more and leave behind your practical jokes now that you see how serious our work can be." Professor Bunnymund eyed them with a half-smile.

Jack looked at Hiccup. Hiccup looked at Jack.

They grinned.

"Not really, no." Hiccup smiled.

"Not a chance!" Jack's grin widened mischievously.

The two boys ran for the door. Jack laughed as he heard Professor Bunnymund yelling after them while Rapunzel and Merida giggled and laughed, calling out for them to wait up. Soon enough the halls were filled with the familiar sound of laughter from four very special first-year students. Each of them different from the other, but still the same. Each of them separated into a different House, but still bound together by their friendship...

* * *

"You ready?" Jack whispered, back pressed against the wall next to the open doors of the Great Hall. He could hear all of their unsuspecting victims feasting and enjoying their final night at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Professor North was making his final speech for the year, and in just a few moments he would announce the winners of the House Cup.

"Yeah, I'm ready." Hiccup nodded, holding his wand nervously.

Jack knew this was Hiccup's favorite spell, so he wasn't worried about whether it would work or not, but this was their last prank of the year, so the timing had to be perfect.  
"Punzie? Mer? You know what to do, right?" Jack was practically shaking with excitement.

"I think I've got it." Rapunzel nodded from her spot right next to him.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let's do it already!" Merida grinned from across the way, standing next to Hiccup.

Jack and Hiccup shared a look and nodded.

"...And now the House Cup goes to..." Professor North paused for dramatic affect. "HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Now!" Jack hissed, and the four students jumped out.

Hiccup's spell shot towards a contraption that they had moved into place long before the feast, and music started to play from the large, trumpet-like piece on top. Meanwhile, Jack, Merida, and Rapunzel threw confetti spells into the air, allowing the colors of all the Houses to fall on their fellow classmates.

They ran straight down the center aisle of the Great Hall and jumped onto the second step that lead up to the dais where the teachers sat. They whirled around and threw their arms into the air.

Hiccup was stuck between Jack and Merida, who practically lifted him off the ground by the wrists as the poor Ravenclaw tried to shrink. Rapunzel was blissfully enjoying her place on the end, allowing Jack to crazily throw one of her arms into the air as they held hands while smiling brightly and giggling happily. Jack and Merida were simply grinning widely, and cheering with all of the other students in the Great Hall as the music filled the entire room.

North laughed loudly at the celebratory prank as Sandy and Tooth clapped and smiled. Bunny rolled his eyes, but his half-grin betrayed him, so Jack knew he was enjoying it.

As the four of them danced over to the Hufflepuff table to celebrate with Rapunzel and her house, singing along with the music, Jack found that he wasn't so sad about having to leave anymore. Because he knew that, even though they would be apart for an entire Summer, they would still be friends when they returned next year.

Because friends stick together and they fight for each other, no matter what.

_April 3rd, 1:52pm_

_I know you're only three years old, Jack, but I'm leaving soon and I don't know if I'm coming back, so I wanted to leave you with one last entry of this journal. If you only remember one thing of what I've written in this book, then make this._

_A True friend is hard to find, hard to lose, and impossible to forget. True friends may be apart from you in distance, but you will never be apart in your hearts._

_Trust yourself and your judgement. And always trust the friends that you know you can..._


	19. Epilogue: Just The Beginning

**Epilogue: Just The Beginning...**

The train whistle was loud and shrill as the train began to pull away from the Hogsmeade station. All of the students were leaning out windows and squeezing together to watch their beloved school disappear on the horizon until they returned next year.

Once the magnificent castle was out of sight, Jack flopped back onto his seat with a sigh as Rapunzel, Merida, and Hiccup all settled into their seats, too.

"I can't believe our first year is already over." Merida commented after a few moments of silence.

"Yeah. It was pretty crazy, right?" Hiccup looked at each of them with a small smile.

"I don't think my parents would believe me, even if I dared to tell them about everything that happened." Rapunzel chuckled nervously.

"Oh, yeah." Merida grinned teasingly. "I forgot, Miss Never Broke The Rules Before!"

All four of them shared a good laugh at that.

"What about you, Jack?" Rapunzel asked once they had calmed a little bit, her voice gentle and her eyes concerned.

"What about me?" Jack tilted his head a little, confused.

"Well, it's just after everything the teachers and Pitch told you about your dad..." Merida trailed off, unsure of how to approach the subject.

"We just want to know if you're okay." Hiccup finally stepped in to help the girls find the right words.

Jack thought for a moment before answering. "I'm not upset." He replied slowly at first. "I'm... I'm proud of my dad. Even more than I was before. I thought there was nothing to be more proud of than an Auror, but there is. And my dad was both. A Guardian and an Auror. And reading his journal makes me feel close to him, like he's still with me, you know?"

Hiccup nodded in quiet understanding while the girls smiled, glad that Jack was okay.

"...But there is something I can't stop thinking about." Jack admitted, catching the others attention.

"What is it?" Merida wanted to know.

"Everyone, even my dad, thought that the case he was working on before he disappeared had something to do with Pitch Black, but Pitch acted like he hadn't seen my dad since the war all those years ago - _before_ he disappeared..." Jack told them, keeping his voice low and glancing at the door to their compartment to make sure no one was listening in.

"You think Pitch doesn't know your dad disappeared?" Hiccup clarified.

Jack nodded. "Something isn't adding up, and if it means I'll find out what really happened to my dad, then I want to look into this."

The other three looked at each other, awestruck by the new information and excited at the thought of a new mystery to be solved. Hiccup turned to Jack and smiled.

"We'll help you in any way we can. We're with you in this, Jack." Hiccup told him, and Rapunzel nodded enthusiastically in agreement.

"Huh, couldn't get rid of us if he tried." Merida scoffed.

Jack grinned. "Thanks, you guys. This means a lot to me."

Rapunzel took his hand and gave it a squeeze, offering him a small smile. "That's what friends are for."

* * *

North was standing at the main desk, overlooking the globe and all of it's lights. Before him was an old piece of parchment, something he and the other Guardians had been protecting for a long time. The words were slightly smudged and the paper yellowed from age, but the message was clear and readable.

"You're wrong, North." Bunny insisted firmly. "None of those four kids could ever do what the Prophecy says. You'd be crazy to think otherwise! Come on, guys. Tell him he's crazy!" Sandy and Tooth shared a look of clear uncertainty.

"They're only children, Bunny." Tooth looked rather torn between the differing opinions. "Growing up changes people..."

"But _those_ kids? Do you even hear yourselves?" Bunny demanded incredulously.

"Perhaps I am wrong." North admitted easily, shrugging casually. "But it is possible."

* * *

_Jack, Merida, Hiccup, and Rapunzel will all return in:_ **  
**

**Tangled In Witchcraft**


End file.
